Dairy remains New Zealand's top export earner, despite sharply lower product prices, Statistics NZ said.
The department said dairy earned the country $12.0 billion in the June 2015 year - down from $15.8b in the June 2014 year, followed closely by tourism.
Spending by international visitors to New Zealand - travel exports - increased $2.4b, reaching $11.7b in the June 2015 year.
"Dairy and travel are New Zealand's biggest export earners," international statistics senior manager Jason Attewell said in a statement.
"A fall in dairy exports to China, combined with the increase in expenditure by overseas visitors to New Zealand, has narrowed the gap between the two," she said.