Statistics

New Zealand exports $20 billion worth of goods to China (year to December 2021), over double that of our next biggest export market, Australia.

China is our largest source of imports, at nearly $17b (year to December 2021), followed by Australia, USA, Japan and Germany.

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

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

Foreign investment from China, including Hong Kong reached $11.5b (year to March 2021).  This is well below our largest investor, Australia (at $66b), and is relatively low considering the size of the trade relationship, people to people links and other connections.

There were over 21,000 fee paying students from China studying in New Zealand in 2020.  This makes China the largest source of students, followed by India, Japan and Korea.

Border closures and limited spaces in MIQ facilities mean that international tourism has been severely impacted.

The number of secondary level students learning Chinese in New Zealand is growing slowly, but is still well below the number that study French, Japanese or Spanish. 

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