Exports rose 13% in December, taking the country's trade balance to a surplus of $338 million.

This follows a deficit of $307 million the previous month.

The annual trade balance is a surplus of $1.113 billion.

The trend for exports remains at a record high level, Statistics New Zealand's industry and labour statistics manager Neil Kelly says. The trend for imports is 6.4% below its peak in September 2008.

In these latest figures, dairy products lead the increase, reaching a record monthly high of $1.4 billion.

Exports of crude oil also rose $133 million. The main decreases were a $70 million (14%) drop in meat and edible offal, and in logs, wood and wood articles, down $44 million (16%). By destination, exports to Australia rose 30% in the month, mostly due to a $133 million rise in crude oil shipments.

Imports fell slightly over the month, down $65 million or 1.6%, mostly due to a drop in imports of large "lumpy" items of transport equipment such as aircraft.

More concerning on the import side of the ledger is an apparent fall off in imports of capital equipment.

Although New Zealand businesses have been investing more in such equipment over the past year, that pick up now appears to be tailing off.

While increasing, the rise in imports of plant and machinery has been tapering off over the past three months, down to a 3.8% for the year to December. Earlier annualised figures were above the 10% mark.