New Zealand Q4 Producer Price Outputs Rise 1% On Quarter

(RTTNews) - Producer price outputs in New Zealand climbed 1.0 percent on quarter in the fourth quarter of 2017, Statistics New Zealand said on Tuesday - in line with expectations and unchanged from the previous three months.

PPI outputs were up mainly due to dairy product manufacturing.

Output prices for the mining industry increased 9.3 percent, influenced by higher crude oil prices received by gas and oil extraction producers.

Producer price inputs were up 0.9 percent on quarter, shy of expectations for 1.0 percent, which would have been unchanged.

PPI inputs were up mainly due to petroleum and coal product manufacturing.

Input prices paid by petroleum and coal product manufacturers rose 12 percent in the December 2017 quarter, influenced by higher imported crude oil prices.

"Higher crude oil prices led to increased costs for many industries, including petroleum, forestry and logging, transport, construction, and farming," business prices manager Sarah Williams said.

The farm expenses price index (FEPI) rose 0.9 percent, while the capital goods price index (CGPI) rose 0.8 percent.

In the year to December 2017, producer output prices increased 4.7 percent and producer input prices 4.4 percent. The farm expenses price index increased 2.5 percent, while the capital goods price index increased 2.6 percent.