New Zealand's biggest seafood exporter - Sanford - is having issues getting salmon exports to China cleared

Suspicions are growing that China is turning up the heat - because New Zealand has decide to not use Huawei in its 5G network.

Sanford is NOT attributing its recent issues in getting shipments cleared to issues between New Zealand and China.

But chief customer officer Andre Gargiulo says several shipments of fresh salmon have been affected since the end of last month - and no reason has been given.

China is New Zealand's biggest export seafood market, returning 500 million dollars last year alone.