WELLINGTON, Dec 8: New Zealand's manufacturing sales volume rose by 0.4 per cent in the quarter to the end of September, led by a 5.1-per cent rise in metal product manufacturing, the government statistics agency announced Monday.
However, the total value of manufacturing sales fell 1.2 per cent, or 290 million NZ dollars (220.05 U.S. dollars), pulled down by a 4.8-per cent -- or 383 million NZ dollars (293.26 million U.S. dollars)-- fall in meat and dairy product manufacturing sales, according to Statistics New Zealand.
The volume of meat and meat and dairying product manufacturing sale fell by 1.4 per cent.
"While meat and dairy manufacturing sales volumes have fallen in recent quarters, manufacturing excluding meat and dairy has risen for the last six quarters," business indicators manager Neil Kelly said in a statement.
The sales volume for total manufacturing, excluding meat and dairy, was up 0.9 per cent in the September quarter.