The drought earlier this year appears to have taken its toll on manufacturing data for the quarter to June, with the combined volume of meat and dairy products down by 10%.
Overall manufacturing sales value fell 2%, or $455 million, for the quarter, which followed small declines during the previous two quarters, the Statistics New Zealand data released yesterday revealed.
Westpac senior economist Michael Gordon said the June quarter figures ''bore the greatest brunt of the late summer drought''.
While milk production was down sharply in both the March and June quarters, meat processing actually rose strongly during the March quarter as animals were sent to slaughter earlier than usual.
''That early slaughter in turn left a big hole in the June quarter processing figures,'' he said.
Excluding meat and dairy, the performance across the manufacturing sub-sectors was ''mixed''.
There were rises in sales of wood products, chemicals, and machinery and equipment, against declines in other foods, petroleum, and metals and minerals.
''Sales excluding meat and dairy were about flat, but with an estimated 3% increase in stocks of unsold goods, that suggests a modest rise in production over the quarter, which is the relevant measure for GDP,'' Mr Gordon said in a statement.
The main value movements for the quarter were in meat and dairy product manufacturing, down 5.8%, or $399 million, petroleum and coal product manufacturing, down 7.3%, or $146 million.
Nine of the other 12 manufacturing industries recorded declines during the quarter, while chemical, polymer, and rubber product manufacturing was up 4.4%, or by $90 million.
