December 21, 2009

New Zealand's beef production up in October

Beef and veal production during October increased 1% on-year to 38,896 tonnes cwt, despite a 7% drop in total slaughter.

From January to October, New Zealand's beef and veal production dropped 1% on-year to 524,988 tonnes cwt.

While there were little changes to overall production volumes, there was a large shift in the slaughter composition. Male adult cattle slaughter fell 14% and calves slaughter dropped 7%, while cow slaughter increased 23%.

Drought in key beef producing regions of the east coast in previous years contributed to the lower number of male cattle available for slaughter, while growth in the dairy industry over the last few years has resulted in larger numbers of dairy cows culled annually.

New Zealand beef and veal exports for January to November were up 2% on-year to 325,824 tonnes swt, with the US taking around 47% of total shipments, according to data from the New Zealand Meat Board.

Despite initial fears that the US Co-operatives Working Together (CWT) dairy herd retirement scheme would increase domestic US beef supplies, thus lowering imported beef prices, the 224,000 dairy cows slaughtered has been largely offset by a 289,000 head drop in beef cow slaughter this year.

However, prices in New Zealand dollar terms have been affected by the soaring value of the New Zealand dollar – currently trading at around 30% higher than the same period last year. Direct to processor prices for 220-245kg New Zealand cows during November averaged about 42% lower than the corresponding period last year.