Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta has spoken out again on the China issue, telling exporters they need to diversify to protect themselves against cooling relations with China. 

She compared tensions between Australia and China to a storm, and warned that if Australia is near the eye of the storm there's a possibility the storm could easily engulf New Zealand.

Catherine Beard, executive director of Export NZ, told Heather du Plessis-Allan that the comments are stronger than normal, and could be as a result of her being in the UK and getting quizzed by Five Eyes partners. 

"It's certainly a message we've heard before in New Zealand, so it's no surprise to us, and it makes sense to have diversified markets and spread your risk."

She says that politicians don't want to be held accountable for a calamity in the export scene, and most exporters are aware of this. 

Beard says that the revenue earned out of China by New Zealand exporters is "a fairly narrow band" of the big commodity exporters, such as dairy and logs. 

"They tend to have reasonable diversified markets anyway." 

LISTEN ABOVE