New Zealand's Trade Surplus Widens In April

WELLINGTON, New Zealand--New Zealand's trade surplus widened in April from a year earlier, Statistics New Zealand said Wednesday.

The nation's merchandise trade surplus came to 578 million New Zealand dollars (US$405 million) last month compared with a NZ$350 million surplus a year earlier, buoyed by dairy, wood, and wine exports.

"In April we had the largest monthly trade surplus since 2015," international trade statistics senior manager Daria Kwon said.

"This trimmed back the annual deficit, which reached an eight-year high in February," she said.

Stats NZ said total imports for April were NZ$4.17 billion, while total exports were NZ$4.75 billion.

New Zealand had a NZ$3.48 billion trade deficit for the 12 months to April 2017.

Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected a surplus of NZ$310 million for the month, and a deficit of NZ$3.71 billion for the year to April.

In March, New Zealand posted a trade surplus of NZ$332 million.

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

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 23, 2017 19:18 ET (23:18 GMT)