The volume of meat and dairy product manufacturing fell in the December 2016 quarter, although sales values rose due to higher prices, Statistics New Zealand said today.

After adjusting for seasonal effects and removing price changes, meat and dairy product manufacturing volumes fell 5.7 percent.

"The fall in meat and dairy sales volumes followed rises in the previous two quarters," business indicators senior manager Neil Kelly said. "In contrast, sales values were up more than $350 million, mainly reflecting a sharp rise in dairy product prices."

Business Price Indexes reported a 14 percent rise in dairy product manufacturing output prices in the December 2016 quarter.

The volume of total manufacturing sales fell 1.8 percent in the December 2016 quarter, following a 1.5 percent rise in the September 2016 quarter.

Excluding meat and dairy, the manufacturing sales volume fell 0.6 percent – the first fall in this series in over two years.

The trend for the total manufacturing sales volume, which gives a longer-term picture of movements, has been mainly rising since mid-2013 but now appears to be easing.

The actual volume of total manufacturing sales was up 0.9 percent on the December 2015 quarter. When price changes are included, the value of manufacturing sales was $26.9 billion in the December 2016 quarter, up $512 million (1.9 percent) from the December 2015 quarter.

Economic Survey of Manufacturing: December 2016 quarter – for more data and analysis

|  A StatisticsNZ release  |  March 08, 2017  ||