Milk exporting company Oravida lobbied New Zealand's Ambassador to Beijing for help with problems getting its milk into China around the time of Prime Minister John Key's visit early last year.
Documents released to the Weekend Herald by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) show the appeal occurred in April last year — well before both the Fonterra botulism scare and Justice Minister Judith Collins' now-infamous October visit to China, where she dined in Beijing with Oravida bosses and an unnamed Chinese border control official.
Meanwhile, the Electoral Commission revealed yesterday that Oravida donated a further $30,000 to the National Party just two months after Ms Collins' trip, taking the company's total support in recent years to more than $80,000.
Opposition parties say Ms Collins' Beijing dinner was about smoothing the way for Oravida's milk exports to China, which were facing obstacles by border control agencies following the Fonterra botulism scare. Ms Collins denies the claims.
Oravida had asked for Government help in overcoming those obstacles just before that trip, but the documents show the company was also seeking help with its milk imports months earlier, in April, around the time Mr Key visited China.