(Adds details, statistican's quote) WELLINGTON, Sept 1...

(Adds details, statistican's quote)

WELLINGTON, Sept 1 (Reuters) - New Zealand's terms of trade rose in the second quarter by less than expected, data from Statistics New Zealand showed on Friday, but still reflected the country's strong trading position.

"Because the March provisional quarter was revised down ... the terms of trade didn't quite reach the record high as expected, but it is very close," said Jason Attewell, prices senior manager at Statistics New Zealand.

The terms of trade rose 1.5 percent in the second quarter, undershooting expectations in a Reuters poll of a 3.5 percent jump.

The New Zealand dollar fell briefly to the day's low of $0.7171 after the data was issued, but was last at $0.7177.

The improvement in the terms of trade stemmed from a 2.4 percent rise in export prices, largely due to higher meat and dairy prices, while import prices increased 0.9 percent.

Terms of trade refer to the ratio of an index of a country's export prices to an index of its import prices.