Tianxi said the 2008 melamine scandal - in which six Chinese babies died after consuming milk and formula tainted with the industrial chemical - had partly prompted the founding of Fernbaby.
Since the melamine disaster imported formula products, which generally sell for between $20 and $30 a can in New Zealand, have commanded a hefty premium in China.
New Zealand supermarkets have even placed limits on the number of cans of formula a single customer can purchase after canny online traders began selling locally bought formula to Chinese parents via the internet.
"Chinese parents [have become] more focused on the quality of baby products so that is the opportunity for us," Tianxi said through an interpreter after an event held to announce the Warriors sponsorship yesterday.
He said part of the reason for the high cost of the Fernbaby product in the Chinese market was the "long supply chain" from New Zealand to China.
According to the Companies Office Tianxi, who is based in New Zealand, is one of four Chinese shareholders in the formula maker, which obtains its raw materials mostly from dairy co-op Fonterra and manufactures its products at contract facilities in Auckland.
Fernbaby assistant director John McCaulay said the Warriors sponsorship was part of the company's strategy to create a domestic and global brand built on New Zealand's reputation as a supplier of top-quality food products.
The company said it was already selling its formula in a number of supermarkets in this country, including some New World stores, where a can retailed for $29.99.
Auckland's Biopure Health sent its first consignment of baby formula to China in June and has begun opening a network of retail stores in that country.
Canterbury dairy processor Synlait, which is majority-owned by Chinese food giant Bright Dairy, began selling its New Zealand-made brand of formula in China late last year.
