David Carter

Agriculture Minister David Carter is leading a delegation of New Zealand agricultural technology companies to China this week.

The trade mission will visit Beijing, Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang in Northern China. These are leading dairy producing provinces with links to New Zealand through the Yili and Mengniu dairy companies and the Heilongjiang Dairy Project.

While in Beijing Mr Carter will hold a range of meetings with senior Chinese Ministers and business leaders, and sign a dairy cooperation agreement with the Chinese Government.

He will also visit Fonterra's operations outside of Beijing.

"China is our second-largest trading partner, with total trade exceeding $10 billion in 2009, and export growth has continued to soar despite the global downturn," says Mr Carter.

"The governments of both our countries are working closely together in the areas of agriculture and food safety. The trade mission will build on this growing cooperation and bring to China expertise and innovation from some of New Zealand's leading agritech companies.

"New Zealand is one of the world's most efficient producers of food, and our expertise in pasture management, animal husbandry, genetic improvement, dairy production, testing and processing are sought-after internationally," Mr Carter says.

A total of 12 companies are taking part in the trade mission, including Fonterra, PGG Wrightson, AgResearch, AsureQuality and Massey and Lincoln Universities.