Cars drive imports

In the year ended June 2019, vehicles, parts and accessories were the top imports from Japan, worth $2.3 billion. This accounted for 54 per cent of New Zealand’s total imports from Japan, led by passenger motor-vehicles at $1.7b.

"Over recent years, the value of New Zealand’s imports of passenger motor cars from Japan has been generally increasing," said Stats NZ. 

In the June 2019 year, New Zealand’s trade balance with Japan was a $347m surplus. This means New Zealand sold more goods and services to Japan than was bought in return.

Japan is currently New Zealand's fifth-largest trading partner for goods and services. New Zealand’s top trading partners are China, followed by Australia, the European Union, the United States, and Japan.

Overall imports of goods and services totalled $82.7b for the year ended June 2019, an increase of $6.4b from 2018.