China is now New Zealand's top export market, overtaking Australia for the first time in the March quarter, Statistics New Zealand figures show.



Exports to China in the three months to the end of March were worth $2.3 billion, topping those to Australia at $2.2b.



Exports to China - mainly dairy and logs - have beaten those to Australia for all three months of the quarter.



The importance of trade with China has grown rapidly in the past year, Statistics NZ said.

"Twenty per cent of goods exported from New Zealand went to China in the March 2013 quarter," industry and labour statistics manager Louise Holmes-Oliver said. "This compares with 15 per cent in the same quarter last year."



New Zealand's overall seasonally adjusted trade balance for the March quarter was a surplus of $52m, equivalent to 0.4 per cent of exports. This follows a deficit of $59m in the December quarter.



For March alone, export values increased $213m (5.1 per cent), compared with March 2012, and imports fell $319m (7.9 per cent). That left a trade surplus for the month of $718m (16 per cent of exports). The average deficit in the previous five March months was $354m.



The impact of the drought on milk production on exports is likely to show up more clearly in the next few months.