![\"RBNZ](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/108358195-17883991031788399099-48144022235-1080pnbcnews.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
China has been New Zealand’s largest trading partner and top market<\/a>, buying roughly a quarter of New Zealand’s total exports over the 12 months ending in July<\/a>. New Zealand’s China-bound goods in 2025 were close to double that of the next two biggest export markets \u2014 the U.S. and Australia \u2014 combined, according to the New Zealand China Council<\/a>.<\/p>\n New Zealand supplies more than half of China’s dairy imports, a dominance built under a bilateral trade agreement since 2008, that later granted duty-free access for all its dairy products<\/a> in 2024. Any sustained pullback in Chinese demand tests how quickly that trade can be diversified.<\/p>\n The Middle East war and the resulting shipping disruption through the Strait of Hormuz drove up global commodity costs, further squeezing Beijing’s own appetite for commodity imports. <\/p>\n Elevated global commodity prices, including for wheat, have handed New Zealand’s pasture-based farmers a relative cost advantage even as China-bound volumes soften, Silk said.<\/p>\n “In some ways, New Zealand actually benefits from a price perspective when we have those supply factors going on globally,” she said.<\/p>\n The RBNZ raised its key interest rate by a quarter percentage point to 2.75% on Wednesday to combat inflation, and signaled another increase could follow by year’s end. <\/p>\n