Overseas Trade Indexes (Prices and Volumes): December 2015 quarter Data Collection

Exchange-rate information The Reserve Bank of New Zealand's trade weighted index (TWI) rose 3.3 percent in the December 2015 quarter, the largest rise since a 4.2 percent rise in the March 2012 quarter. A rising New Zealand dollar has a downward influence on both export and import prices. The Reserve Bank's TWI is based on 17 countries. Import values are converted to New Zealand dollars by the New Zealand Customs Service (NZCS) using their exchange rates. These exchange rates can lag by 11 to 25 days compared with the Reserve Bank rates. The TWI we calculate using NZCS rates rose 0.2 percent in the December 2015 quarter, following a 9.9 percent fall in the September 2015 quarter. See Basis of valuation – merchandise trade in data collection methodology for more information on exchange rates. Exchange rates for December 2015 quarter Reserve Bank of New Zealand USA (NZ$:US$) UK (NZ$:pound) Australia (NZ$:A$) Japan (NZ$:yen) Euro (NZ$:euro) TWI Change from September 2015 quarter (%) 2.2 4.4 3.1 1.6 3.8 3.3 Exchange rates for December 2015 quarter New Zealand Customs Service USA (NZ$:US$) UK (NZ$:pound) Australia (NZ$:A$) Japan (NZ$:yen) Euro (NZ$:euro) TWI Change from September 2015 quarter (%) -1.4 -0.2 2.5 -2.7 -0.1 0.2 en-NZ Timing of published data We calculate the merchandise price indexes in this release from the same data we used in the Overseas Merchandise Trade: January 2016 monthly release (published 26 February 2016). We do not include updates published after this date. Because OMT statistics are provisional for the three most-recent months, we may amend them in the three months after initial publication. Merchandise price indexes are also provisional for one quarter, to allow us to include late data and amendments to the source data. Consequently, merchandise values in this OTI release that relate to the September 2015 quarter are based on later data than that originally published (1 December 2015). We will update the provisional import volumes and values with Overseas Trade Indexes (Prices and Volumes): March 2016 quarter (provisional), released on 1 June 2016. These will include more-recent information that may affect the petroleum and petroleum products import prices, volumes, values, and total import prices, volumes, and values for the December 2015 quarter. We expect the effect to be small. The services price indexes are final figures. We may revise these indexes when lagged prices are used in new indexes and are later replaced by current prices. However, they are usually revised only for significant errors. Revised numbers are identified by an R in the tables that accompany this release. Imputation for the December 2015 quarter For the December 2015 quarter, our base annual imputation rates were 19.0 percent for exports and 41.0 percent for imports. See Imputation (DataInfo+) for more information. Exchange-rate changes An appreciating New Zealand dollar has a downward influence on both import and export prices in New Zealand dollars. The impact on the terms of trade depends on the relative mix of exports and imports for each currency. The Reserve Bank's trade weighted index (TWI) rose 3.3 percent in the December 2015 quarter. The TWI that Statistics NZ calculates using New Zealand Customs Service (NZCS) exchange rates, which are used to value merchandise imports, rose 0.2 percent in the December 2015 quarter. These NZCS exchange rates differ from the weekly exchange rates used to calculate merchandise export values. We convert import values from foreign currencies, using the rates the NZCS sets every two weeks. These exchange rates are prepared 11 days before the effective date (when the item was imported) and are then applied for two weeks. Therefore, there is a lag of 11 to 25 days between the NZCS exchange rates and those the Reserve Bank publishes. This means the NZCS exchange rate, and therefore the import prices, will be slower to show the effect of exchange-rate changes than the Reserve Bank rates and the export prices. en-NZ