Statistics

New Zealand exports $15.5 billion worth of goods to China every year,  almost double that of our next biggest export market, Australia.

NZ supplies more than half of all dairy that China imports from the world.  New Zealand also supplies a significant amount of the wood, meat, fruit and wool that China imports.

Many of the goods that New Zealand imports are supplied primarily by China, such as clothing, toys and games, furniture and footwear.

There are 36,000 fee paying students from China in New Zealand.  This makes China the largest source of students, followed by India, Japan and Korea.

China is our largest source of imports, at nearly $13b a year, followed by Australia, USA and Japan.

The number of secondary level students learning Chinese in New Zealand is growing slowly, but still well below the number that study French, Japanese or Spanish.  There is a large drop-off in Chinese learners between primary and secondary levels.

There has been a big increase in the number of primary level students learning Chinese in New Zealand in recent years, at nearly 65,000.

Chinese tourist numbers have slowed slightly following a peak of 431,000 in January.  China is still our second-largest source of inbound tourism, following Australia at nearly 600,000 visitor arrivals per year.

Foreign investment from China, including Hong Kong reached $10.58b in 2018.  This is still well below Australia at $56.84 b, and is low considering the size of the relationship in trade, people to people links and other connections.