WELLINGTON, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Goods imports from China were up 430 million NZ dollars (291.6 million U.S. dollars), reaching 1.5 billion NZ dollars in October, which is the largest dollar value increase for monthly Chinese imports on record, New Zealand statistics department Stats NZ said on Tuesday.
China is New Zealand's largest trading partner. It is a key supplier of goods such as cellphones and computers, and is a big export market for dairy products, wood and meat, according to Stats NZ.
Exports to China rose 242 million NZ dollars to 1.2 billion NZ dollars when compared with the same month a year ago, statistics show.
"October 2018 marks the 10-year anniversary of the New Zealand-China free trade agreement," international statistics manager Tehseen Islam said.
Two-way goods trade with China is continuing to strengthen. On an annual basis, imports from China are twice the value they were in the October 2008 year, while exports have more than quadrupled, Islam said.
Annual goods imports from China have increased 6.1 billion NZ dollars since the October 2008 year to 12.3 billion NZ dollars in the October 2018 year, statistics showed.
In the past decade, annual cellphone imports from China were up 644 million NZ dollars, to 781 million NZ dollars, while computer imports rose 479 million NZ dollars to 955 million NZ dollars, according to Stats NZ.
Over the last 10 years, annual goods exports to China increased 11.2 billion NZ dollars to reach 13.5 billion NZ dollars in the year ended October 2018.
Milk powder, butter, and cheese led this rise, with milk powder alone up 2.1 billion NZ dollars, it said.
Logs, wood, and wood articles and meat and edible offal were also key contributors to the exports rise, the department said.
