New Zealand has become the first country in the world to send products to Shanghai for this year's China International Import Expo (CIIE) after the COSCO Shipping Corporation picked up containers in the major city of Auckland on Friday.
2025 marks the 8th year for the highly successful CIIE, and the organizers have introduced new immigration and customs clearance to streamline the import process for participating countries.
This isn't just any container heading to China -- because inside are the hopes and dreams of dozens of New Zealand exporters who're trying to increase their presence in China's highly competitive consumer market.
"And this is one of the products that are going to be in that container. And this is a new one here which has got colostrum in the milk powder. It's there for the immune system. And so that's the one we'll be presenting this year," said Roy van den Hurk, chief executive of dairy company Theland.
China's COSCO Shipping Lines is the officially recommended service provider for the CIIE, and it has been supporting local businesses with an expanding range of export destinations and end-to-end supply chain partnerships.
"Those services range right from transportation, loading of the containers, also the documentation of course that allows the products to move smoothly into and out of China and other markets," said Mark Scott, general manager of COSCO Shipping New Zealand.
The CIIE attracts around 3,500 exhibitors from more than 100 countries, but only 170 of those exporters have been to all seven previous Expos -- and Roy van den Hurk is one of them.
"It's not just our company. It is there for the world, and it's there to improve trade, so you need to be there," said the New Zealand businessman.
This year's shipment from New Zealand includes a wide variety of consumer products, ranging from health foods to honey and wine. There is even some pure venison pet food that sells for more than 100 U.S. dollars a kilogram.
And for many countries, the CIIE is an opportunity to showcase new products.
"We're always introducing new products, but our key focus has always been the same. We're always focusing on a very high quality, very healthy New Zealand dairy product," said Roy van den Hurk.
COSCO operates four regular container lines, and serves all major ports in New Zealand, with the aim to expand throughout the Asia-Pacific region and deepen its relationship with New Zealand exporters.
"As they break into the market and become bigger, their capacity grows and we grow together. It's good for all of us," said Scott.
The nine-thousand kilometer journey to China will take almost a month, with stops in several countries including Japan and South Korea to collect more precious cargo -- and it's a growing business.
"At the beginning, the COSCO Shipping Company only had one ship from New Zealand to China, but now already increases from one to five ships," said Zong Zhiyong, captain of the COSCO Felixstowe container ship.
And judging by the success of past Expos, the trading relationship looks certain to prosper.
New Zealand becomes first country to send products for China Int'l Import Expo 2025
