A surge in exports to China helped New Zealand maintain an overall trade surplus last month, the government statistics agency said Tuesday.
China led the way in New Zealand's rising exports, with goods to China increasing by 18 percent, or 125 million NZ dollars (87.47 million U.S. dollars), from June last year.
The increase in exports was led by rises in logs, wood, and wood articles, kiwifruit, dairy products and food preparations for infant use, according to Statistics New Zealand.
New Zealand had a trade surplus of 127 million NZ dollars (88.96 million U.S. dollars), or 3 percent of exports, in June.
That compared with a deficit of 182 million NZ dollars (127.49 million U.S. dollars) in June last year.
The agency noted the value of kiwifruit exports had soared by 47 percent year on year to reach 331 million NZ dollars (231.86 million U.S. dollars), led by demand from China and Japan.
The quantities of kiwifruit exported were up 32 percent.
"Export values of kiwifruit for the months of May and June 2016 are the two highest on record," international statistics senior manager Jason Attewell said in a statement.
"Annual kiwifruit exports for the June 2016 year also set a new record - 1.7 billion NZ dollars (1.19 billion U.S. dollars) - up 41 percent from the previous June year."
