27 Mar 2014

Big trip soothes China market

6:36 am on 27 March 2014

Fonterra chairman John Wilson says a recent government and dairy industry delegation to China was a very good trip on numerous levels.

Mr Wilson says it allowed last year's botulism food safety scare to finally be laid to rest.

He says the delegation got across to the Chinese that the incident was unfortunate event, it was a false-positive, and that Fonterra should have handled it better.

Mr Wilson says in return the Chinese showed they have absolute confidence in New Zealand's and Fonterra's food safety systems.

And he says that is good for business.

"It's a significant market for us, about one in four kilos, or one in five kilos of milk solids off a Fonterra farm goes up to China and what we're seeing is continual growth and trust in that market," Mr Wilson says.