2017.05.1619:00:00UTC+00New Zealand Producer Price Index Continues to rise in Q1

New Zealand producer prices continued to rise in the first quarter of this year. The producer output prices were up 1.4 percent sequentially, while the input prices were up 0.8 percent quarter-on-quarter, stated Statistics New Zealand. The producer output prices were mainly driven by increased prices of dairy products, whereas the increased crude oil prices drove up the input costs at oil refineries. On a year-on-year basis, producer output prices rose 4.1 percent, whereas input prices were up 4.2 percent.
The prices paid by fuel manufacturers rose 43 percent in the year, owing to higher crude oil prices. Meanwhile, prices received by dairy cattle farmers and dairy product manufacturers in March rose 49 percent and 22 percent respectively.
Meanwhile, the consumer price index rose 2.2 percent in the year to the March quarter. This was also driven by fuel prices.