Wellington, Jun 9 (IANS): New Zealand's wholesale trade sales rose 3.7 per cent, or 1.1 billion NZ dollars (790 million US dollars), in the March 2021 quarter, the statistics department Stats NZ said on Wednesday.

The increases in the March quarter followed a 1.7 per cent fall in the December 2020 quarter, business insights manager Sue Chapman said in a statement, Xinhua reported.

Leading the rise in wholesale trade sales in the March 2021 quarter was the motor vehicles and motor vehicle parts industry, Chapman said.

"Wholesale trade sales of motor vehicles took a tumble in the Covid-affected June quarter. However, the increase in the March 2021 quarter, has lifted the year-ended March 2021 sales to just shy of the previous year's level," she said.

At the same time, the high demand and import supply issues have caused wholesale trade vehicle stock levels to drop by more than 250 million NZ dollars (180 million US dollars) over the same period, statistics show.

Manufacturing sales volumes reached a record peak of 27 billion NZ dollars (19.45 billion US dollars), up 0.4 per cent from the December 2020 quarter. When compared with the March 2020 quarter, manufacturing sales rose 4.2 per cent over the year, Stats NZ said.

"In the March quarter, the most substantial sales volume rises were in transport, machinery and equipment manufacturing, as well as meat and dairy product manufacturing," she said.