New Zealand: Logs Trade Surplus in May.

New Zealand posted a trade surplus of NZD 1.235 billion in May 2025, a sharp improvement from the NZD 54 million surplus in the same month last year. Exports rose 9.7% from a year earlier to NZD7.7 billion, driven by strong demand for key commodities such as milk powder, butter, and cheese (+18%), fruit (+25%), meat and edible offal (+11%), and precious metals, jewelry, and coins (+69%). Imports rose at a slower pace, up 7.2% to NZD 6.4 billion, led by sharp increases in ships and boats (+443%), fertilizers (+179%), and electrical machinery (+5.0%). Export growth was broad-based, with shipments to China rising 13%, Australia 10%, and the European Union 41%. On the import side, only purchases from China increased (+3.7%), while imports declined from the US (-34%), Australia (-4.8%), the EU (-2.4%), and South Korea (-11%).