2020.07.1000:45:00UTC+00New Zealand June Electronic Card Spending Jumps 16.3%

The total value of electronic retail credit card spending in New Zealand climbed a seasonally adjusted 16.3 percent on month in June, Statistics New Zealand said on Friday - coming in at NZ$5.7 billion.

That follows the 78.9 percent surge in May.

On a yearly basis, retail card spending climbed 8.0 percent or NZ$421 million after sinking 6.0 percent in the previous month.

Spending in the core retail industries rose 10 percent or NZ$460 million.

By industry, the movements were: durables, up NZ$310 million (24 percent); consumables, up NZ$205 million (11 percent); motor vehicles (excluding fuel), up NZ$45 million (26 percent); apparel, up NZ$18 million (5.7 percent); hospitality, down NZ$74 million (7.3 percent); and fuel, down NZ$84 million (15 percent).

The total value of electronic card spending, including the two non-retail categories (services and other non-retail) was up NZ$305 million (4.2 percent) on year.

The non-retail (excluding services) category was down NZ$146 million (8.5 percent), and the services category was up NZ$30 million (11 percent).

Cardholders made 144 million transactions across all industries in June 2020, with an average value of NZ$53 per transaction. The total amount spent using electronic cards was NZ$7.6 billion.

On a quarterly basis, spending in the retail industries fell 15 percent (NZ$2.5 billion) and spending in the core retail industries fell 12 percent (NZ$1.7 billion).

By industry, the quarterly movements were: consumables, up NZ$651 million (11 percent); motor vehicles (excluding fuel), down NZ$99 million (19 percent); apparel, down NZ$337 million (35 percent); durables, down NZ$510 million (13 percent); fuel, down NZ$696 million (40 percent); and hospitality, down NZ$1,524 million (49 percent).

The total value of electronic card spending, including the two non-retail categories (services and other retail), was NZ$18 billion, down NZ$4.5 billion (20 percent) from the June 2019 quarter.

The non-retail (excluding services) category was down NZ$1.8 billion (33 percent) and the services category was down NZ$270 million (31 percent) from the June 2019 quarter.

In seasonally adjusted terms, retail card spending in the June 2020 quarter was down NZ$3 billion (18 percent) compared with the March 2020 quarter.