Dileepa Fonseka | Tue, 20 Jun 2023 A 29-strong business delegation will accompany Hipkins to China. (Image: Getty) Things are getting tougher for food and beverage exporters to China, and New Zealand Trade and Enterprise chief executive Peter Chrisp admits it. Chrisp, who recently returned from a trip to China, remembers the day when NZ products were flying off the shelf just because they bore the NZ brand. “Ten years ago, because we were from New Zealand, we were preferred as an imported good. And now, you have to really understand that there’s almost a preference for locally produced goods. “So that is a big shift and again, it’s a shift in consumer sentiment, associated with the rise in nationalism, and the rise of patriotism in that particular market.” Next week, the prime minister, Chris Hipkins, will travel to China with a 29-person business delegation to meet China’s president Xi Jinping, premier Li Qiang and the chairman of the standing committee of the National