Joshua Tan: Export NZ executive director on NZ seeing the highest monthly trade surplus in years

A strong primary sector performance has produced a billion-dollar monthly trade surplus - for the first time in five years.

Stats NZ data reveals it sat on $1.4 billion dollars in April, compared with a $12 million dollar deficit for the same time last year.

Export NZ Executive Director, Joshua Tan, says it's a team effort across the food and fibre sector.

He says dairy, red meat, fruit and wood exports have all risen by millions of dollars.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now our exporters are smashing it. We just had a
trade souplus come in for last month one point four
billion dollars. That's the first time we've topped the billion
dollar mark in five years. Joshua Tan from Export New
Zealanders with us A Joshua.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Good afternoon, Heather. How are you is this I'm well?

Speaker 1 (00:13):
Thank you? Is this down to the price of butter?

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Well, I think there's a few different things here and
the result comes on the back of strong performances across
the food and beverage sector. Dairy is up, fruit is
up by about two hundred and sixty five million dollars,
red meat is also up about two hundred and seventy
million dollars, and logs and wood exports are up one
hundred and forty one million dollars. So from our perspective,
as a team effort from the food and fiber sector, are.

Speaker 1 (00:39):
You trying to avoid talking about the butter. No, that's story, Joshua,
it's a good new story. I mean, look at what
dairy is doing. It's not just the butter, is it.
It's the butter and the cheese and the milk powder
up from six hundred and one million to two point
two billion.

Speaker 2 (00:54):
That's massive, totally, and it shows that there's really strong
de mind out there for what New Zealand has to offer.
Our exporters earn more money overseas, they bring it back
to New Zealand and that can only be a positive
for the local economy.

Speaker 1 (01:06):
Yeah totally. Now why does it happen in April? Is
this because we've got an overlap of a couple of seasons?

Speaker 2 (01:12):
Yeah, totally. So April is traditionally a strong month for
newsing exports. The seasons for dairy and most fruit sectors overlap,
so it does mean that we've typically had a bumper
month in April. This one's obviously been especially strong.

Speaker 1 (01:26):
What's going on with offal.

Speaker 2 (01:30):
So offul is quite an important export in the meat sector. Obviously,
we want to be quite sustainable and make sure that
we're exporting every single part of the animal. So look,
there are countries out there, there are people out there,
including myself, who do sometimes like to eat off or
I guess.

Speaker 1 (01:48):
What do you get into, Joshua.

Speaker 2 (01:52):
It's hard to say, and I don't really want to
embarrass myself on national radio.

Speaker 1 (01:55):
All embarrass myself. I like the brains because when you're
eating a little lamb brains, it's like, you know, it's
like it's all nice and mushy, and then you get
those crunchy little bits in the middle of it, like
corn flakes.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
So what do you If it's me at a young
char restaurant, then I'll get into the chicken feet and
the and the tripe as well.

Speaker 1 (02:14):
Interesting. Good for you. See how what I did there
was I shared my secret to make you share your secret.

Speaker 2 (02:18):
So thanks for playing games.

Speaker 1 (02:20):
As Joshua Tan from Export Usual on, nothing wrong with
a little bit of awful Ay, not like I just
can't get into the bloods though. The blood stuff is
that's just too tangy. That's that's too much, isn't it.
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