New Zealand's foreign trade in commercial services almost doubled in the six years to June 2011, with Asia becoming an increasingly important supplier, the government statistics agency announced Wednesday.
In the year ending June 2011, imports of commercial services from China and Singapore represented 8.1 percent of total commercial service imports, up from 2.9 percent in 2005, driven by a rise in engineering services associated with offshore oil drilling and extraction, according to the Census of International Trade in Services and Royalties, from Statistics New Zealand.
Imports from India represented 1.2 percent of total commercial service imports, compared with 0.3 percent in 2005, driven by a rise in management fees, and information technology consulting and support services.
New Zealand companies exported 4 billion NZ dollars (3.33 billion US dollars) of commercial services in the year to the end of June 2011, up by 1.5 billion NZ dollars from the June 2005 year, when the census was last carried out.
Over the same period, imports of commercial services increased by 2.3 billion NZ dollars, to reach 5.8 billion NZ dollars.
"Companies are buying and selling more services internationally, which is an indicator that New Zealand is becoming a more globalized economy," Statistics New Zealand balance of payments manager John Morris said in a statement.
Exports of commercial services accounted for 29.6 percent of total service exports in 2011, up from 19.8 percent in 2005, while they were 39.8 percent of total service imports, compared with 30. 3 percent in 2005.
The increase in service exports was partly driven by New Zealand companies receiving more management fees from their overseas subsidiaries, said the statement.
Information technology companies also received more revenue from abroad for their software design and royalties.
The increase in imports of services was partly due to a rise in management fees paid by New Zealand companies to their foreign head offices, reflecting the increasing presence of foreign companies in New Zealand.
For the first time, the Census of International Trade in Services and Royalties measured how service exports were delivered to overseas clients and found that 85.8 percent of all commercial service exports were provided to foreign customers by the Internet, e-mail or phone.
Commercial services include information technology and engineering services, royalties, management fees between related companies, and other business services such as accounting and legal services.