Imports, especially of fuel and cars, fell sharply in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic while exports held up, leading to a 1.7 billion NZ dollar (1.13 billion U.S. dollar) annual goods trade surplus in the financial year ending September 2020, New Zealand's statistics agency Stats NZ said on Tuesday.

 

Imports fell by 5.9 billion NZ dollars (3.9 billion U.S. dollars) in the year, it said in a statement. A similar large fall in trade occurred during the global financial crisis more than a decade ago, when both imports and exports dropped. This year, exports have held up well despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

The value of dairy product exports in September 2020 fell from the same month of the previous year, according to it.

 

The fall was price-led, as the overall quantity of dairy products exported rose over the same period, said the agency.