Farmgate returns for red meat could take a year to bounce back from the current levels, Meat Industry Association chair Nathan Guy says.
Speaking on the Farmers Weekly In Focus podcast, Guy pointed to increased supply from the likes of Brazil and Australia, and China’s economic slowdown, as the main challenges.
“There’s a lot of those big producing beef countries that are in there on steroids, particularly Brazil. Their growth over the last couple of years has been phenomenal.”
Post-covid, Chinese consumers have become more willing to trust the quality and safety of domestically produced food and New Zealand’s unique trade status with that massive market has now gone.
“In the past we had first mover advantage in China and over time, we’ve lost that. There’s now 42 countries in that market that have similar access to New Zealand. So we’ve probably lost some of the narrative.”
Guy said that messaging will be crucial in gaining value for farmers and processors.
“We produce a lean product. It’s higher nutrition. It’s very healthy. China believes that grain-fed is superior, of higher quality and also a higher price point, and we need to move our product as much as possible out of that commodity hot pot market and into the fine dining, white tablecloth restaurants.”
The Meat Industry Association has recently taken on the management of Taste Pure Nature from Beef + Lamb NZ and Guy is looking forward to its next phase.
“We’re looking forward to driving that initiative hard and the marketing managers from the various companies will be pushing that along. And we’re out in the market at the moment looking for a coordinator to drive this thing.”
Back home, Guy acknowledged farmers are doing it tough with environmental standards to meet while dealing with lower returns.
He is looking forward to a review of emissions targets that the government is undertaking but warns that farmers aren’t off the hook.
“We shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that we’re going to need to continue to do more in the environmental space, because consumers and customers are going to keep asking.”
Guy applauded the government’s work to open up new export markets, particularly in India.
In Focus Podcast | Meaty topics discussed at sector conference
Bryan attended the Red Meat Sector Conference this week and caught up with Meat Industry Association chair Nathan Guy, who outlined some of the structural shifts in the industry and gave his views on the big challenges sheep and beef farmers are facing at the moment.
