Fall in manufacturing volume

The volume of manufacturing sales fell 0.7 percent (seasonally adjusted) in the June 2011 quarter, following a 1.4 percent rise in the March 2011 quarter, Statistics New Zealand said today.

"The trend for manufacturing sales volume, which gives a longer-term picture of movements, has been fluctuating for several years and is now 7.6 percent below the September 2007 quarter peak,” industry and labour statistics manager Kathy Connolly said.

Decreases in sales volumes (seasonally adjusted) were recorded in the June 2011 quarter for nine of the 13 industries, with four increasing. The main contributors to the fall in the volume of manufacturing were:

- chemical, polymer, and rubber product manufacturing (down 5.4 percent)
- meat and dairy product manufacturing (down 1.2 percent)
- petroleum and coal product manufacturing (down 2.6 percent).

Partly offsetting these falls in sales volume were a 3.1 percent rise in the beverage and tobacco product manufacturing industry and a 5.9 percent rise in the printing industry.

Rising prices in most manufacturing industries have led to the value of sales (seasonally adjusted) rising 2.1 percent in the June 2011 quarter. The main contributions to this increase came from two industries:

- meat and dairy product manufacturing (up 4.9 percent)
- petroleum and coal product manufacturing (up 7.6 percent).

These two industries also contributed strongly to the 14 percent increase in the trend for total sales value since the September 2009 quarter low-point.