1. India –NZ trade : Current Trends and Looking ahead
Rahul Sen
Senior Lecturer, School of Economics,
Faculty of Business Economics and Law, AUT University, Auckland
Fellow, NZIRI Wellington

2. New Zealand's total trade in Goods and Services By top 10 trading partners and India (Year-end December 2017)
Rank
Trading partner
Total
Two-way
Trade
exports
imports
trade
balance
NZ$(million) 1
China, People's Republic of
14817
11265
26081
3552 2
Australia
13624
11956
25580
1668 3
European Union
8614
12981
21595
-4368 4
United States of America
8461
8522
16983
-60 5
Japan
4088
4071
8159 17 6
Singapore
1552
2999
4551
-1447 7
Korea, Republic of
1992
2042
4034
-50 8
Thailand
1100
2773
3872
-1673 9
United Arab Emirates
1015
2131
3145
-1116 10
Malaysia
1303
1837
3140
-533 11
India
1806
858
2664
948
Source : Compiled from Statistics New Zealand Goods and Services Trade by Country, Year end December 2017

3. Key items – Goods Exports
New Zealand’s exports to India have been heavily concentrated in a few product categories. The top 5 goods exported from New Zealand to India in 2017 constituted 76% of New Zealand’s total merchandise exports to India.
The top commodity item of exports was Logs and Forestry products ($ 252 million), followed by Confidential items ($ 149 million), Wood Pulp ($ 49 million) Wool (38 million), and Aluminium ($ 36 million)
Logs and Forestry Products (HS-44) is currently the largest individually valued commodity exported to India, constituting a share of 5.4% of total Log and Forestry Exports of New Zealand,
Confidential items has been the second largest value of exports to India constituting a share of 8.5% of total Confidential Items Exports of New Zealand

4. Key trends – Goods exports
Edible Fruits and Nuts -, New Zealand’s exports of Kiwifruit to India increased by $ 5 million over the , making it one of the drivers of New Zealand’s increased Fruit exports to India in recent years.. The share of India in New Zealand’s total Kiwifruit exports have dropped in 2017 to 0.7% compared to 1.1% a year ago.
Dairy produce, that constituted 28% of New Zealand’s total goods exports over this period, had an almost insignificant share of 0.01% in New Zealand’s exports to India, worth only $ 2 million

5. Key trends
. The top 5 goods imported by New Zealand from India as of year-end December 2017 constituted about 37% of New Zealand’s total imports from India.
The top commodity item of imports was Pharmaceuticals/Medications ($ 64 million), followed by Precious Metals and Gems ($ 63 million), Textiles ($ 38 million), Machinery Equipment and Parts ($ 30 million) and Motor Vehicles ($ 27 million
Pharmaceuticals/Medicines is currently the largest individually valued commodity imported from India, constituted a share of 4.9% of total Pharmaceuticals/Medicines imports of New Zealand
Precious Metals and Gems has been the second largest value of imports from India constituting a share of % of total Imports of this product category into New Zealand, compared to 13.2% a year ago. The value of Imports in this product category have grown continuously since 2015.
Textiles has been the third largest valued imported commodity constituting a share of 11.3% of total Textile imports of New Zealand.

6. Key trends – Services trade
bilateral trade in commercial services between New Zealand and India have also been growing rapidly over the years, with exports of commercial services increasing at a much faster pace than its imports.
Notably, in a period of 3 years from year-end December 2014 to , Exports of Commercial Services more than doubled from $ million to $ 1.13 billion. Imports of Commercial Services grew much slower during the same period from $ 185 million to $ 260 million.

7. New Zealand-India Exports of Commercial Services by Industry as at December 2017 compared to 2016
Value of Exports to India (NZ $ million)
Share in total Services Exports to India (%)
Industry
2016
2017
Transportation services 7 15
0.6
1.3
Charges for the use of intellectual property 1
0.1
Telecommunications, computer, and information services 3
0.3
Other business services 6 4
0.5
0.4
Personal, cultural, and recreational services C NA
Government services 16 13
1.4
1.2
Business travel services 11 12
1.0
1.1
Education travel services
859
882
81.4
78.3
Other personal travel services
148
191
13.4
16.9
Source : Statistics New Zealand
Note: Data is confidential for some service sectors and therefore recorded as a C for that period. Shares are calculated on the basis of final data available.

8. Value of Imports from India (NZ $ million)
New Zealand-India Imports of Commercial Services by Industry as at December 2017 compared to 2016
Value of Imports from India (NZ $ million)
Share in total Services Imports from India (%)
Industry
2016
2017
Insurance and pension services 2 1
0.8
0.4
Charges for the use of intellectual property 3
1.2
Telecommunications, computer, and information services 54 43
22.0
16.5
Other business services 32 31
13.0
11.9
Government services 6
2.4
2.3
Business travel services 8
3.3
Education travel services
Other personal travel services
136
161
55.3
61.9
Source : Statistics New Zealand
Note: Shares are calculated on the basis of final data available.

9. Looking Ahead
Huge untapped potential for expansion in bilateral trade and investment flows between NZ and India
Building business relationships to strengthen the economic linkages and diversify the export-import basket is crucial
US-China Trade War impact ? Yet uncertain !