July 25, 2013

 

New Zealand's red meat markets to grow in next 12 months

 

 

New Zealand's emerging markets for beef and lamb will continue to grow rapidly over the next 12 months and will become more important to the sector over time, according to Beef and Lamb New Zealand chief executive Scott Champion.

 

Champion made a presentation to the Beef Profit Partnership field day in Gisborne last week.

 

"Overall, economic conditions in Europe will remain tough, but on a positive note there are continuing signs of an economic recovery in the US and Japan," Champion said

 

The challenge for New Zealand farmers is to achieve sustainable profitability in what is a tough environment, where volatility is likely to continue, he said. For both beef and sheep meat, access to markets was crucial, given that New Zealand exports 80-90% of all the red meat it produces, Champion added.

 

"Central to improving market access are the free trade negotiations under way, including those with the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Korea, Russia and India. Pleasingly, the agreement with Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) has been signed and presents gains for both beef and sheep meat in our fourth largest beef export market," he said.

 

Champion showed a series of graphs indicating comparative beef and sheep stock numbers, export figures and pastoral land use.

 

"The amount of pastoral land area used for dairying is up 67% on what it was in 1990, while the amount used for sheep, beef, deer and goats has dropped 29%. The number of dairy cows has risen 85%, while sheep numbers have fallen 45%, and beef 15%," he said. "Interestingly though, we still export about the same volume of sheep meat as we did then, due to big increases in productivity."

 

India exports the most beef in the world (one- million-plus tonnes), followed by Australia (one million tonnes), then Brazil at more than 850,000, the US at 750,000, with New Zealand at 350,000.

 

"Latin America leads the world in the growth of beef numbers by a long way, followed by Asia, North America and Africa. Beef consumption is led by Asia, followed by Latin America a long way back," Champion said. He said the region with the largest consumption growth for both beef and sheep meat in the period to 2020, would be Asia.

 

The "Five Nations Beef Alliance", involves New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Mexico and the US with its aim being to exceed the expectations of global beef consumers, and at the same time eliminate the non-scientific and political trade restrictions.

 

For sheep meat, the "Ti-lamb group" comprising organisations from New Zealand, Australia and the US looks to build the demand for lamb in the US by targeting key influencers such as nutritionists and food writers.