14 Apr 2014

Booming lamb exports to China

2:39 pm on 14 April 2014

China's hunger for New Zealand lamb shows no sign of subsiding as March figures show a new record volume of lamb exports to the country.

Primary industry analyst NZX Agrifax said China took 13,445 tonnes of lamb last month, 14 per cent more than in March 2013.

Last year, China took 28 per cent of all New Zealand's lamb and is the country's biggest market for sheepmeat.

In addition to lamb, China now imports 50 per cent of the mutton New Zealand produces.

Overall lamb exports for March were the highest since 2007 with 41,475 tonnes exported.