Imports and exports of services both see rise in March quarter

Total services imports rose 35 percent ($1.4 billion) in the March 2022 quarter, compared with March 2021, while total services exports rose 12 percent ($376 million), Stats NZ said today.

When compared with the March 2020 quarter (before the main impacts of COVID-19), total services imports were down 0.1 percent, while services exports were down 59 percent.

"Services imports have been quicker than services exports to return to pre-pandemic levels, largely due to increases in the volume and cost of transportation, which is a large import category for New Zealand," international trade manager Alasdair Allen said.

International trade in services shows $5.4 billion deficit in 2021 has more information.

Imports of transportation services rose 82 percent ($673 million) from March 2021 to $1.5 billion in the March 2022 quarter. The value of transportation imports in the March 2022 quarter was the highest for any March quarter.

In the March 2022 quarter compared with March 2021, travel exports were little changed, down 3.2 percent, while travel imports rose 32 percent.

"With the border restrictions eased, most New Zealand travellers' overseas spending was in the Cook Islands and Australia," Mr Allen said.

"Historically, as border restrictions have eased, we have seen traveller movements increase."

March quarters are typically the peak time for tourists coming to New Zealand, and the September quarters are the peak time for New Zealanders to go on holiday overseas.

Travel was our top services category (for both exports and imports) before the pandemic. In the March 2022 quarter, travel services made up 30 percent ($1.0 billion) of total services export values, down from 64 percent ($5.4 billion) in March 2020. On the imports side, travel made up 7.2 percent of total services imports values in the March 2022 quarter, while in the March 2020 quarter they made up 24 percent.

While travel exports' share of total service exports has halved compared to pre-COVID, the share of other categories, such as charges for the use of intellectual property (11 percent or $392 million), telecommunications, computer, and information (12 percent or $422 million), and other business services (17 percent or $586 million), have increased over the same period.