A Rotorua forest is set for foreign ownership.
The Overseas Investment Office has just approved the sale of more than 14,000ha of prime forestry land to the Chinese Government.
The office approved the sale of 10 blocks of land including a 326ha property in Rotorua known as the Endean Forest on Endean Rd off Paradise Valley Rd.
Forestry is worth $3 billion to the economy. It's New Zealand's third biggest export earner. Now the Chinese Government is set to take a foothold.
The biggest block of land which has been approved for sale is in the Kaipara district. There are also six blocks in Coromandel and Waikato, a block each in Rotorua and Gisborne and Wairarapa covering more than 14,000ha.
The land was owned by the New Zealand Superannuation Fund - an investment to help pay for Kiwis' retirements.
Reporoa's Allan Crafar, whose farms were sold to a Chinese company after Government ministers ignored public disapproval and gave the sale the green light, said he was against the sale.
Prime Minister John Key "seems to want to sell the country out" he said.
"It's looking like a banker thing to me. That's Mr Key's background."
Mr Crafar couldn't understand why the New Zealand Government didn't hold on to its assets and sell the products.
"It's hard to fathom."
New Zealand First primary industries spokesman Richard Prosser said the sale was an appalling example of everything that is wrong with National's approach to the economy.
He said the sale would not create one single job in New Zealand, and would perpetuate the unsustainable practice of this country being an exporter of unprocessed bulk commodities.
"The purchase of New Zealand forests by the Chinese Government is not foreign investment; it's a transfer of wealth.
"They won't build any new sawmills, they won't build any new particle board mills, they will simply continue to export bulk logs for processing in China.
"The export of raw logs has increased under this Government by 10 per cent since 2009," he said.
"These are logs that should be processed in New Zealand, by New Zealand workers so that the wealth generated is kept in this country.