Arabic version: مصدّرو نيوزيلندا يبحثون عن أسواق خارج الصين

According to Cnbc, New Zealand exporters are redirecting products that had been intended for China to other markets as demand from the country’s largest trading partner cools. Karen Silk, assistant governor at the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, said exporters were actively looking beyond China, stressing that it is not their only export market.

Silk’s comments highlighted the effect of China’s economic slowdown on businesses in New Zealand. Growth in the world’s second-largest economy slowed to multi-year lows in the second quarter, affected by weak domestic demand and a prolonged real estate slump. China has been New Zealand’s largest trading partner and bought roughly a quarter of the country’s total exports in the 12 months ending in July.

New Zealand’s China-bound goods in 2025 were close to double the combined value of exports to its next two largest markets, the United States and Australia, according to the New Zealand China Council. The country supplies more than half of China’s dairy imports, a position supported by a bilateral trade agreement that began in 2008 and granted duty-free access for all New Zealand dairy products in 2024.

A sustained decline in Chinese demand would test how quickly that trade can be diversified. The Middle East war and shipping disruption through the Strait of Hormuz raised global commodity costs, adding pressure to Beijing’s appetite for commodity imports. However, Silk said elevated commodity prices, including for wheat, have given New Zealand’s pasture-based farmers a relative cost advantage even as China-bound volumes soften.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand raised its key interest rate by a quarter percentage point to 2.75% on Wednesday, its second consecutive increase, as it sought to curb inflation. The central bank also indicated that another rate rise could follow by the end of the year.