Australia, China drive New Zealand trade surplus

New Zealand had an international trade surplus of 2.8 billion NZ dollars (2.01 billion U.S. dollars) in the year ending March, largely due to exports to Australia and China, the government statistics agency announced Wednesday.

The top export destination was Australia, with 13 billion NZ dollars (9.33 billion U.S. dollars) of exports, followed by China on 10.7 billion NZ dollars (7.68 billion U.S. dollars).

The largest trade surpluses were with Australia, China and the Philippines, while the largest deficits were with the European Union (EU) and Singapore.

"Although Australia and China purchased a similar amount of goods from New Zealand over this year, Australia bought more business services from New Zealand, and travelers from Australia were more likely to fly Air New Zealand than those from China," international statistics manager Jason Attewell said in a statement.

The EU was the largest source of imports, with goods and services from Germany, Britain and France comprising more than half the imports from there.

New Zealand's largest export earners during the March 2015 year were dairy exports to China, and spending by visitors from Australia and the EU while traveling in New Zealand.

The largest import expenses were cars and spare parts from the EU and Japan, and mechanical machinery from the EU.

"New Zealanders spent more on cars from the EU than from Japan for the first time ever," Attewell said. Endi