New Zealand Has Marginally Larger August Trade Deficit

WELLINGTON, New Zealand--New Zealand had a marginally larger trade deficit in August, after a decline in dairy exports, Statistics New Zealand said Tuesday.

The nation's merchandise trade deficit came to 1.23 billion New Zealand dollars ($890 million) last month compared with a NZ$1.24 billion deficit a year ago.

Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected a median deficit of NZ$520 million for the month.

The largest rise in export values was for kiwifruit, with the value of exports up 37% on-year to NZ$268 million, Stats NZ said.

"This annual increase in kiwifruit exports was led by gold kiwifruit, in particular to China," international statistics senior manager Daria Kwon said.

Stats NZ said imports for August totaled NZ$4.92 billion, while exports totaled NZ$3.69 billion.

New Zealand had a NZ$3.2 billion trade deficit for the 12 months to August. Economists had expected a deficit of NZ$2.87 billion.

In July, New Zealand posted a trade surplus of NZ$85 million.

Write to Ben Collins at ben.collins@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 25, 2017 18:23 ET (22:23 GMT)