10 Mar 2014

Big jump in manufacturing sales

11:34 am on 10 March 2014

Manufacturing sales have jumped, led by a strong rise in meat and dairy production.

Official figures show the seasonally adjusted value of manufacturing sales rose by 6.3 percent to $25.2 billion in the three months to December, compared with the September quarter.

Excluding price changes, seasonally adjusted volumes rose by 5.7 percent, the largest quarterly increase in 29 years.

Statistics New Zealand says meat and dairy production, which suffered from the effects of drought in the first half of last year, accounted for most of the rise.