Drop in business containers outweighed rise in private container registrations

Container Registrations  April 2017


  Apr 17
Mar 17
Feb 17
Jan 17

Total
853 869 890 647
Business
462 515 410 381
Private
391 354 480 266

After a strong month in the formal distribution sector as indicated by the business container registrations, activities slowed over the month of April 2017. Business container registrations declined by 53 containers (10.3%), partly offset by a 37 (10.5%) increase in private containers. As a result, total container registrations fell by 16 containers (1.8%) over the month. This is the usual trend for months with no special events. The slight increase in private container registrations is in line with the increase in private vehicle registrations over the month as most individual import their vehicle with various other goods in one container shipment. New Zealand continued to be the major originating country source of the containers, followed by Australia and Indonesia.

The decline in business container registrations coincided with the decrease in import payments (excluding oil) by $5.0 million (18.4%) over the month. This was due to lower import payments of wholesale and retail goods which payment declined by $3.2 million, followed by a $1.0 million decline in payment for other imported goods.

In year ended terms, the total container registrations rose by 674 registrations (6.8%), driven by a 712 (17.0%) rise in private containers indicating a rise in the informal distribution sector. However, business containers declined over the year by 38 registrations (0.7%). The large number of events and celebrations held during the year supported this annual growth. In addition, 34 extra cargo ships arrived during the year to April 2017 compared to the previous year. This was consistent with a $38.9 million (14.6%) rise in import payments (excluding oil) as a result of higher import payments for construction materials, vehicles and wholesale & retail goods.

The Reserve Bank expects imports and consequently container registrations to generally increase in 2016/17. The Reserve Bank’s liaisons with the construction and transport sectors had indicated growing demand in these sectors which will also drive imports in the near future. On-going construction projects and new private residential constructions are anticipated to contribute to the rise. Spill over effects on the trade, tourism, construction sectors and other sectors in the economy are also anticipated.


Resources

Container Registration - April 2017
Released on 14 July 2017 | pdfIcon 138 KB - Download a copy of the full report.

See more Container Registrations releases.
You are here: Home 2017 Releases News 2017 Economic Releases Drop in business containers outweighed rise in private container registrations