China was New Zealand's top trading partner in 2019, Stats NZ said today.
Since 2017, China has been New Zealand's top trading partner, and from 2013 the second-largest trading partner.
In the year ended December 2019, 23 percent of New Zealand's total goods and services exports and 16 percent of imports by value were with China. Two-way trade in goods and services with China was worth $33.4 billion in 2019, with exports worth $20.1 billion and imports $13.3 billion. This resulted in a trade surplus of $6.8 billion.
New Zealand's trade surplus with all countries was $2.6 billion at the end of 2019.
| Year | Trade balance |
| 2007 | -2484000000 |
| 2008 | -2886000000 |
| 2009 | -1495000000 |
| 2010 | -861000000 |
| 2011 | -422000000 |
| 2012 | 534000000 |
| 2013 | 3192000000 |
| 2014 | 3119000000 |
| 2015 | 1003000000 |
| 2016 | 1810000000 |
| 2017 | 3830000000 |
| 2018 | 4430000000 |
| 2019 | 6787000000 |
New Zealand's top four exports to China were dairy products (milk powder, butter, and cheese), wood (logs, wood, and wood articles), meat (meat and edible offal), and travel services (including spending by holidaymakers, business travellers, and students).
"The latest annual figures, from before the outbreak of COVID-19, show that China is an important market for both goods and services. About a third of our dairy exports go to China - almost 60 percent of our forestry products and over 40 percent of our meat," international statistics senior manager Peter Dolan said.
"Nineteen percent of spending by overseas visitors in New Zealand was by Chinese visitors."
| commodity | All other countries | China |
| Meat and edible offal 2007 | 4276000000 | 70000000 |
| Meat and edible offal 2019 | 4676000000 | 3367000000 |
| "Milk powder | 7104000000 | 391000000 |
| butter | 10490000000 | 5265000000 |
| and cheese 2007" | 1854000000 | 235000000 |
| "Milk powder | 2087000000 | 2930000000 |
| butter | 8883000000 | 954000000 |
| and cheese 2019" | 13118000000 | 3038000000 |
| "Logs | ||
| wood | ||
| and wood articles 2007" | ||
| "Logs | ||
| wood | ||
| and wood articles 2019" | ||
| Travel services 2007 | ||
| Travel services 2019 |
China is New Zealand's second-largest source of imports.
"New Zealand imports from China include a wide range of products for our homes and businesses. Nearly two-thirds of cellphones and over 70 percent of computers were imported from China in the December 2019 year," Mr Dolan said.
New Zealand's top three imports from China in 2019 were electrical machinery and equipment (including cellphones), mechanical machinery and equipment (including computers), and textiles and textile articles. These top three imports of goods accounted for $6.2 billion in the year ended December 2019, or 7 percent of all imports.
| Year | All other countries | China |
| 2007 | 7528000000 | 2971000000 |
| 2008 | 8414000000 | 3246000000 |
| 2009 | 7204000000 | 3301000000 |
| 2010 | 6830000000 | 3539000000 |
| 2011 | 7395000000 | 3906000000 |
| 2012 | 7535000000 | 4007000000 |
| 2013 | 7345000000 | 4213000000 |
| 2014 | 7613000000 | 4362000000 |
| 2015 | 8245000000 | 5134000000 |
| 2016 | 8175000000 | 5057000000 |
| 2017 | 9490000000 | 5388000000 |
| 2018 | 10032000000 | 6032000000 |
| 2019 | 10805000000 | 6224000000 |
For information on goods trade since coronavirus was first reported, see:
- Overseas merchandise trade: January 2020
- A first glance at NZ trade with China after the coronavirus outbreak.
Other useful links:
