Dairy Tops Tourism: NZ’s Big Export Earner in 2024-25

Despite a strong post-pandemic recovery in visitor numbers, New Zealand Government data show that dairy exports remain the country’s largest overseas revenue source, generating NZ$23.1 billion in the 12 months to March 2025 — comfortably ahead of foreign tourist spending of NZ$18.1 billion. Tourism has gained ground, with visitor numbers rising and international spend up about 7 %, but it still trails the performance of New Zealand’s dairy export engine.

New Zealand’s dairy sector — powered by strong global demand for whole milk powder, butter, cheese and dairy derivatives — has maintained its position as a backbone of the nation’s export economy even as service-based sectors like tourism have rebounded from pandemic lows. Dairy’s export advantage reflects both high production levels and firm global pricing for dairy ingredients, particularly in key markets such as Asia and the Middle East where New Zealand’s products are well-established for quality and reliability.

Tourism’s narrower gap to dairy highlights how services exports are regaining momentum. Overseas visitor arrivals rose more than 4 % in recent data, international spend climbed, and tourism accounted for a record NZ$46.6 billion in total spending when domestic visitors are included — supporting roughly 327,888 jobs and about 7.7 % of GDP.

For the dairy sector, this sustained export leadership underscores its depth and resilience. New Zealand exports around 95 % of its dairy production, nearly all of it to international markets, with strong long-term demand underpinning price stability and revenue flows.

Dairy’s continued export dominance also reflects how agriculture products can outpace services in hard foreign exchange earnings even when services like tourism recover quickly — particularly because dairy commodity contracts and long-term supply relationships provide stable market access and predictable volumes, insuring against cyclical tourism fluctuations.

Looking Ahead

As tourism continues to grow toward pre-pandemic norms, analysts expect it to narrow the revenue gap with dairy over the next few years. But unless tourist arrivals — particularly from historically strong source markets — rise substantially faster, dairy is likely to remain New Zealand’s top export earner through 2026. Ongoing global demand for dairy, especially from populous and fast-growing regions, combined with New Zealand’s efficiency and reputation, should sustain this position even as services export numbers rise.

Source : Dairynews7x7 March 4th 2026  Read full story here

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