The Government has won access for the meat industry to send chilled meat to China.
Prime Minister John Key is in China and has announced the new access for chilled meat Photo: RNZ / Demelza Leslie
Prime Minister John Key said China had agreed to new regulations, so trade would be able to start in the next couple of months.
The meat industry has been lobbying to get the premium-priced product into the market for years, saying it would be worth hundreds of millions of dollars to the sector.
Mr Key said there was a lot of value in chilled meat, and getting access was a very important step.
Photo: RNZ / Alexander Robertson
"You can see companies like Shanghai Maling trying to buy half of Silver Fern Farms. That's because they can see how big this product is.
"On a value basis and on the fact that we can grow that market, and others already have access on chilled meat, it's a really important step for us," Mr Key said.
Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy said it was an opportunity for exporters to get their product into the top end of the Chinese market.
"Then it will be up to each individual company to make sure they've got their high-end distribution networks available, so they can put this premium chilled meat product on the white-tablecloth restaurants here in Shanghai or Beijing."
There was already good air links to China, Mr Guy said.
