Statistics New Zealand revealed that the producer's price index outputs and inputs in the March quarter escalated as it was influenced by elevated prices for dairy products, electricity as well as wholesale goods. The input was up 1.3 percent, while the outputs index was up 1.8 percent.

The changes in price are measured by the PPI. Output prices are the changes in prices received by producers and input prices are the changes in the costs of production, exclusive of labor and depreciation costs.

The series showed that dairy product manufacturing surged almost 30%, surpassing the 16% increase in input prices from electricity generation and supply. This data managed to beat the forecast of economists which was selecting a 0.5% increase in both indices.

The wholesale trade witnessed a 1.6% rise, which reflected higher petrol prices, and electricity generation up 4.8% as a result of higher demand and lower lake levels.

There was a 16.2% rise for electricity generation and supply in input index and a 6.5% rise for dairy products manufacturing, which mirror higher farm-gate milk prices. The whole sale trade increased 1.8%, because of higher imported crude oil prices.

According to the Statistics NZ, the output prices declined 0.5% overall in the year to March, while input prices escalated 0.6%.