This is an empirical study of milk powder products in the Chinese dairy market which seeks to discover the effect of country-of-origin (COO) on Chinese consumers' evaluation of New Zealand milk powder. The study is grounded on past research which suggests that COO influences consumers' product evaluations more than it influences purchase intentions. The importance of antecedents and moderators of the COO are investigated. 200 Chinese consumers who purchase milk powder were surveyed using a structured self-completion questionnaire; 50 respondents were surveyed in each of four regions of China, north, south, east and west China. Chinese consumers have a positive image of New Zealand and this has an influence on their willingness to purchase milk powder from New Zealand. In addition, Chinese consumers are quality and brand conscious when evaluating dairy products. The extrinsic cues of brand name and price strongly influence Chinese consumers' dairy product evaluation. However, the study also finds that most Chinese consumers have a low level of knowledge of milk powder and rely considerably on a product's COO in their evaluation of this product category. The implications of this study's findings for New Zealand dairy organizations' marketing of milk powder are discussed.