The country's annual trade deficit remained close to a six-year high in October, as the value of exports fell more than the value of imports.
Official figures show a deficit of $963 million, close to expectations but an improvement on the $1 billion shortfalls of the previous two months.
Statistics New Zealand says exports were slightly up on the previous month but were close to 5 percent lower than a year ago because of a slide in dairy exports, which was twice the size of the fall in imports.
The annual trade balance has been in the red for a year, and the deficit for the 12 months ended October widened slightly to $3.2 billion .
