July 3, 2006

Untarnished reputation helps New Zealand's poultry exports

New Zealand's poultry meat and egg exports went up for the first quarter of 2006, even though volumes are still at relatively small volumes.

Poultry meat exports are up 13 percent to reach nearly US$2 million for the first quarter and poultry egg exports are up 35 percent (to US$500,000) from the last quarter, according to Statistics New Zealand,

Total poultry exports for the March quarter reached US$5 million.

Michael Brooks, the Executive Director of the Poultry Industry Association of New Zealand, says this reflects the industry's growing reputation for producing safe high quality poultry and egg exports.

The fact that New Zealand is the only country in the world free from the three major poultry diseases provides great export potential and is something the industry has worked hard to achieve, Brooks said, adding that he expects exports to grow rapidly.

New Zealand's poultry meat and eggs are exported to a wide variety of countries, including Australia, South Africa, the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany.