New Zealand Red Meat Exports Top $1 Billion In February But Pressure Mounting On Sector – Scoop

Monday, 28 March 2022, 10:39 amPress Release: Meat Industry Association

Current strong export returns for New Zealand red meatface pressure in the coming months due to labour shortagesand supply chain disruption, says the Meat IndustryAssociation (MIA).

The industry exported productsworth $1.1 billion during February 2022, with increases invalue to all major markets.

Sirma Karapeeva, chiefexecutive of MIA, said current strong meat prices werecompensating for a drop in the volume of exports, withsheepmeat volumes down 11 per cent and beef down seven percent compared to February 2021.

Absenteeism inprocessing plants due to staff having to isolate during theCOVID-19 pandemic is adding to the pressure on our industry,which is already dealing with a significant labour shortageand ongoing global logistics challenges.

While theimpact of labour shortages in the industry is not yetshowing up in the headline export data, they are starting toaffect exports of specific products.

For example,while offal prices are still high, the volume of offalexported in February was down around 35 per cent compared toFebruary exports in the previous six years, indicating thatthere arent the staff available to process every part ofthe carcass and companies are not able to maximise the valueof each carcass that is processed.

The supply chainissues are reflected in the drop in volumes of chilledsheepmeat, with more exporters opting to send frozen productto markets. Chilled sheepmeat exports were down 18 per centcompared to last February, with the largest drop to the UK,which was down 52 per cent.

This drop in chilledmeat exports impacts our ability to capture greater marketvalue from our products. Chilled meat is a sophisticatedvalue-add product backed by sophisticated processing andinnovation. However, the supply chain disruption means thatwe cant extract the maximum value because frozen productsoften attract a lower price point.

The overallvalue of exports to China increased by four per cent to$406m during February, the United States was up 34 per centto $238m and the UK 28 per cent to $66m.

The value ofsheepmeat exports was up by 13 per cent to $475m and beef by34 per cent to $460m. Co-products continued to perform well,with exports worth $172m, an increase of 16 percent.

Chilled beef exports held up better thansheepmeat, with the volume exported lifting slightly, by oneper cent. There was a 10 per cent drop in the volume ofoverall beef exports to China, to 17,938 tonnes, butFebruary 2021 was a record month and the overall volumeswere still historically veryhigh.

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New Zealand Red Meat Exports Top $1 Billion In February But Pressure Mounting On Sector - Scoop