Cars and car parts made up the largest amount of imports from the European Union in 2016, new Statistics New Zealand figures show.
The EU provided nearly 45,000 cars to us in 2016, including 27,000 from Germany.
“We spent more on importing cars from the EU than they spent on importing meat from New Zealand,” Statistics New Zealand international statistics senior manager Daria Kwon says.
Cars and parts from the EU were our third-largest goods import overall, after cars and parts from Japan, and electrical machinery and equipment from China.
New Zealand imported $11.7 billion worth of goods and services from the EU in the 2016, which accounted for one-sixth of total imports.
On the other hand, New Zealand exported $8.3 billion of goods and services to the EU, giving us a $3.4 billion trade deficit with the EU in 2016.
