China Tops New Zealand Export Dairy Market

China has become New Zealand’s number-one export dairy market with a value of NZD1.33bn ($900m), the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has announced.

The growth is due to consumer demand for milk powder following the Chinese baby food contamination scandal in 2008, the Ministry said.

China now spends more than twice as much on imports of New Zealand dairy products as the 27 members of the EU combined, which spent NZD515m ($361m) last year.

The EU is the fifth-biggest market behind the US (NZD1bn), Japan (NZD592m) and Australia (NZD531m), the Ministry said.

New Zealand’s total agricultural and forestry exports to China rose 49% last year to NZD2.19bn ($1.5bn), primarily due to milk powder and lumber.