New Zealand Producer Price Inputs Gain 0.3% On Quarter In Q2
August 18 2019 - 3:45PM
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Producer price inputs in New Zealand climbed 0.3 percent on
quarter in the second quarter of 2019, Statistics New Zealand said
on Monday - following the 0.9 percent drop in the three months
prior.
Producer price outputs advanced 0.5 percent on quarter after
sliding 0.5 percent in the previous three months.
On a yearly basis, PPI inputs were up 2.4 percent and outputs
climbed 2.2 percent.
Capital goods prices gained 0.9 percent on quarter and 3.1
percent on year, while prices paid by farmers fell 0.1 percent on
quarter and rose 2.5 percent on year.
Salary and wages rose 0.7 percent on quarter and 2.1 percent on
year, while prices paid by consumers gained 0.6 percent on quarter
and 1.7 percent on year.
Dairy product manufacturers received higher prices for products
such as butter, cheese, and milk powder in the June 2019 quarter.
Together, output prices for this group of products increased 8.7
percent from the previous quarter, the biggest rise in over two
years. Prices rose by 16 percent in the March 2017 quarter.
"The rise in prices dairy product manufacturers receive is
consistent with global dairy auction prices increasing in late 2018
and early 2019," prices, accommodation, and construction statistics
manager Melissa McKenzie said. "It can take time for prices set at
global dairy auctions to flow through to producers' prices, and
there can be a further lag before consumers see price changes."
Dairy cattle farmers saw a relatively small change in the prices
received for their raw milk, increasing by 0.5 percent for the June
2019 quarter. However, at the same time their input costs have
decreased by 0.3 percent.
The farm expenses price index also shows a small decrease for
dairy farm input prices (down 0.2 percent) for the June 2019
quarter. Some of the major input costs for dairy farmers have
decreased with fertilizer down 1.2 percent, livestock feed
(including maize, hay, and silage harvesting) down 4.4 percent, and
interest rates down 1.3 percent.
Also on Monday, the latest survey from Business NZ showed that
the services sector in New Zealand continued to expand in July, and
at a faster rate, with a Performance of Services Index score of
54.7.
That's up from 53.0 in June and it moves further above the
boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from
contraction.
Individually, sales, employment, new orders and inventories
continued to expand, while supplier deliveries remained in
contraction.
"One should be cautious in reading too much into one month's
data, but the positive result is good to see and especially in the
context of weakness appearing in a few other leading indicators,"
BNZ Senior Economist Doug Steel said.