Category: R&D

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Trade deficit increases with EU – Goods and services trade by country: Year ended March 2018

Source: Statistics New Zealand

Trade deficit increases with EU – 5 June 2018

New Zealand’s two-way trade with the European Union (EU) was $22.2 billion for the year ended March 2018, Stats NZ said today. The EU is New Zealand’s third-largest market for trading  goods and services.

China remains New Zealand’s top trading partner (maintaining this rank since the December 2017 year), followed by Australia. China, Australia, and the EU account for nearly half of New Zealand’s total trade with the rest of the world.


Two-way trade measures the total amount of goods and services New Zealand imports and exports with the rest of the world. For the year ended March 2018, New Zealand’s two-way trade with China was valued at $26.9 billion, while that with Australia was at $25.9 billion.

EU trade deficit increases while China and Australia remain in surplus

“In recent history we have continued to import more from the EU than we have exported to them, while our trade balance with China switched from a deficit to a surplus in 2013,” international statistics senior manager Peter Dolan said. “Since 2009 we have maintained a trade surplus with Australia.”

In the March 2018 year, almost one-fifth of New Zealand’s imports came from the EU ($13.4 billion). This high value of imports is what drives New Zealand’s trade deficit with the EU. A trade deficit is when imports are greater than exports. Top imports from the EU were vehicles, parts, and accessories, mechanical machinery and equipment, and transportation services.

New Zealand exported $8.8 billion worth of goods and services to the EU for the year ended March 2018. The top goods exports were food based, with meat accounting for almost one-third of total goods exports to the EU, while fruit and wine made up almost a quarter.  The largest service exports to the EU included travel (expenditure in New Zealand by tourists from the EU), transportation, and other business services, with travel making up the majority.

Trade surpluses with China and Australia

New Zealand exports to China totalled $15.3 billion in the March 2018 year, led by dairy products. Dairy product exports totalled $4.0 billion, accounting for one-quarter of New Zealand’s exports to China.

Travel services continue to be the most valuable export to Australia. Travellers from Australia spent $2.6 billion in New Zealand in the year ended March 2018.

For more information about these statistics:

Tables (Excel) goods-and-services-trade-by-country-year-ended-march-2018-tables.xlsx

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Statistics New Zealand – Expansion and research on the rise

Source: Statistics New Zealand

One in three New Zealand businesses invested in their expansion in 2017, compared with 1 in 5 in 2007, Stats NZ said today. These results come from the Business Operations Survey, which reports on businesses with six or more employees.

Investment in expansion can include purchasing assets (such as land and machinery). It can also include entering into new markets, or investing in innovation. Innovation can include developing and implementing new products, business processes, and marketing methods.

The industries with the greatest growth in expansion rates over the past decade were the construction, and information media and telecommunications industries.

In the construction industry, 43 percent of businesses reported investing in their expansion in 2017, compared with 20 percent in 2009 and 24 percent in 2007.

“The construction industry saw a significant decline in expansion rates in 2009 after the global financial crisis,” business performance manager Laura O’Leary said. “The increased demand for construction work in recent years means businesses need to grow to keep up with the workload.”

One in nine businesses in New Zealand reported performing research and development (R&D) activities in 2017 – the highest rate of R&D performance since 2007. R&D rates increased across all business-size groups and most industry sectors over this time period.

The proportion of businesses that reported sales from tourism remained steady at 23 percent in 2017, compared with 2016. This represents an increase in the number of businesses with tourism sales, which was balanced out by an increase in the total number of businesses.

The percentage of businesses reporting export sales dropped slightly in 2017 (24 percent, from 25 percent in 2016). The number of exporting businesses has increased since 2016, but this was outweighed by the increase in the number of non-exporting businesses.