Falling meat exports drive New Zealand trade deficit

Falling meat exports contributed to a trade deficit for New Zealand last month, the government statistics agency said Wednesday.

Beef and lamb exports fell in November, as the amount of meat sold dropped heavily compared with last year's record season, according to Statistics New Zealand.

Meat and edible offal exports fell 31 percent from November 2015, contributing to a fall of 219 million NZ dollars (152.03 million U.S. dollars), or 5.4 percent, in overall exports.

Beef exports fell 41 percent in value and 31 percent in quantity, and lamb exports fell 27 percent in value and 23 percent in quantity.

"Beef exports to the United States, our top beef export destination, fell by around half when compared to November last year," senior manager Jason Attewell said in a statement.

"When compared to the same month of the previous year, the value of beef exports to the U.S. have fallen in nearly every month since October 2015, only rising once in April 2016."

Lamb exports to the European Union, New Zealand's top lamb export destination, fell in November 2016, with the United Kingdom seeing significant falls in value and quantity.

Meat exports had fallen 31 percent from their peak in September 2015, mainly due to lower quantities, but lower prices had also contributed.

Total exports in November were 3.9 billion NZ dollars (2.7 billion U.S. dollars), while imports were worth 4.6 billion NZ dollars (3.19 billion U.S. dollars).

The monthly trade balance was a deficit of 705 million NZ dollars (489.41 million U.S. dollars), or 18 percent of exports, while the annual trade deficit for the year ending November was 3.2 billion NZ dollars (2.22 billion U.S. dollars). Endit