Chinese companies have imported 247.14 billion yuan ($37.95 billion) worth goods from New Zealand which benefit from the tariff concession policies following the implementation of the China-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in October, 2008, China's General Administration of Customs disclosed on Monday. China's imports of New Zealand origin goods that get tariff reduction and exemption increase 23.1 percent year-on-year since 2009 and a total of 28.39 billion yuan customs duties were exempted with an annual growth rate of 31.5 percent. According to the trade informational platform World's Top Exports, New Zealand's one-way trade volume with Chinese mainland accounted for 29 percent of its total exports and New Zealand gains surpluses of $2.4 billion in 2020. China has been New Zealand's biggest trading partner since 2017.
The costs of importing agricultural goods including beef, mutton, dairy products and fruits were lowered down. Food company Comvita's Chinese branch imported a batch of New Zealand signature manuka honey with a 15 percent tariff concession, which means zero duties, saving 432,000 yuan. Although under the impact of COVID-19 pandemic, the company's administrator said that the honey imports increased last year thanks to the tariff reduction policies. Chinese companies have also sought to extend exports to New Zealand through applying certificates of origin under the China-New Zealand FTA. About 80,000 certificates have been issued, the total worth of which is 13.65 billion yuan, mostly in manufacturing areas of furniture, plastic products and clothes. China and New Zealand signed an upgrading protocol of their FTA in January to improve the level of market opening based on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).