New Zealand’s Trade Deficit Narrows in October

2025-11-20 21:56 By Felipe Alarcon 1 min. read

New Zealand’s trade deficit narrowed to NZD 1.5 billion in October 2025 as export growth outpaced imports down from NZD 1.65 billion in the same month a year earlier.

Exports rose 16% to NZD 6.5 billion, supported by milk powder, butter and cheese which increased 18% to NZD 2,096 million and by fruit which rose 45%.

Exports to China were up 18%, to Australia up 14%, to the United States up 5.4%, to the European Union up 40% and to Japan up 7.5%.

Imports rose 11% to NZD 8.0 billion, led by higher petroleum and products, fertilisers, mechanical machinery and electrical machinery.

Imports from China increased 29%, from Australia 6.8%, while imports from the United States fell 15% and from South Korea fell 19%.

For the year to October 2025 annual goods exports were NZD 79.4 billion, annual goods imports were NZD 81.6 billion and the annual trade deficit narrowed to NZD 2.3 billion from NZD 9.1 billion in the year ended October 2024.



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