BPI data collection March 2021

This BPI release includes the March 2021 quarter PPI, CGPI, and FEPI data. Response rates for March 2021 quarter Key firms Achieved: 100 percent Target: 100 percent Non-key firms Achieved: 96.5 percent Target: 96 percent Commodity review We are continuing our rolling review of the business price indexes. The review has two objectives: to maintain the relevance of these indexes and to collect commodity data for use in the national accounts. We are surveying a sample of economically significant enterprises operating in New Zealand, to collect information on their supply and use of goods and services (commodities). We use this commodity information (by industry) to update lower-level weights for the business price indexes. We use these indexes as deflators in producing a chain-volume measure of GDP. Exchange rates The New Zealand dollar depreciated against four key currencies (US dollar, UK pound, Japanese yen, Euro) when comparing the mid-point of the March 2021 and December 2020 quarters. A depreciating NZ dollar has an upward influence on the prices New Zealand producers pay for imported goods and services, and the prices received for exports. When calculating the PPI and CGPI, we generally use prices collected on the 15th day of the middle month in the quarter to represent the entire quarter. When these prices are collected in foreign currencies, they are converted to NZ dollars using the exchange rate at the mid-point of the quarter. The table below shows changes in the value of the NZ dollar in foreign currency denominations, from the mid-point of the December 2020 quarter to the mid-point of the March 2021 quarter. Exchange rates Bank selling rates for NZ$1.00 USA (NZ$:US$) UK (NZ$:pound) Australia (NZ$:AUS$) Japan (NZ$:yen) Europe (NZ$:euro) 13 November 2020 0.6714 0.5119 0.9279 70.6242 0.5689 15 February 2021 0.7067 0.5102 0.91 74.1695 0.5831 Percentage change 5.3 -0.3 -1.9 5.0 2.5 Source: Westpac Banking Corporation Update 18 August 2021: We have corrected the exchanges in the above table. Initially the 15 February 2021 and Percentage change rows were incorrect. The error was only in the production of the table above and not in any other published material. en-NZ