January 30, 2017

New Zealand meat, dairy exports decline in 2016

New Zealand's top two export commodities, meat and dairy, both fell in value in 2016, returning to 2014 levels.

Statistics New Zealand said on Monday, Jan. 30, that the biggest fall among all export goods for the year ended December 2016 was for meat and edible offal, New Zealand's second-largest export group, with sales down NZ$909 million (US$681.84 million) to $5.9 billion (US$4.29 billion). The fall in meat was driven by beef (down $481 million) and lamb (down $415 million).

The US accounted for 3/4 of the fall in beef, while the EU accounted for nearly half of the fall in lamb. The quantity of meat exports fell 7.4% from 2015, with beef falling 14% and lamb falling 4.6%.

"The large fall in meat exports for 2016 reflects a decline from the record meat season in 2015 for both value and quantity," international statistics senior manager Nicola Growden said. "The 2016 year's meat exports have returned to levels similar to those seen in 2014."

Milk powder, butter and cheese exports rose to a new high of 3 million tonnes, despite an almost 3% fall in the value of dairy exports to $11.2 billion.

The quantity of milk powder, butter and cheese has been rising since 2013 and is now 14% higher than in that year. The quantity exported to China was 25% of the total in 2016, slightly up from 23% in 2015.