Survey highlights China as major buyer of New Zealand commodities

China was New Zealand's second biggest export destination last year, but very few New Zealand firms were selling there, according to figures from the government statistics agency Wednesday.

The Business Operations Survey from Statistics New Zealand showed that bulk commodities still made up much of New Zealand's exports to China.

Exports of goods and services to China rose 61 percent from 2011 to 10.9 billion NZ dollars (7.42 billion U.S. dollars) last year, but only 7.8 percent, or 1,986, of New Zealand businesses reported selling goods and services to China.

By the number of businesses selling goods and services overseas, China ranked fourth, following Australia (21.1 percent), the United States (10.7 percent), and the United Kingdom (8.7 percent).

The three biggest exports to China were milk powder, butter, and cheese at 2.42 billion NZ dollars (1.64 billion U.S. dollars), logs, wood, and wood articles at 1.55 billion NZ dollars (1.05 billion U.S. dollars) and personal travel at 1.53 billion NZ dollars (1.04 billion U.S. dollars).

The survey also showed the total number of New Zealand businesses with six or more employees rose to 39,003 last year from 37,944 in 2014.

The net increase was driven predominantly by businesses with six to 19 employees.

Total research and development spending in 2015 was up almost 200 million NZ dollars (136.14 million U.S. dollars) year on year to 1.4 billion NZ dollars (952.98 million U.S. dollars), the survey said.

"The percentage of firms aiming to come up with better goods and services rose significantly - to a 49-percent 'innovation rate' in 2015," senior manager Stuart Jones said in a statement.

"This means that almost one in two firms spent on improving products and processes, research and development, design, and new ways of marketing." Endit