Red Meat Sector Conference: Exports up $1.2b despite livestock supply concerns
Industry group Beef + Lamb New Zealand chairwoman Kate Acland told the event that carbon farming on productive land under the Emissions Trading Scheme was driving the significant reduction in livestock numbers.
'New Zealand currently faces over-capacity in the processing industry,' Acland said.
'We have more plants and more processing lines than we have livestock to sustain them efficiently, and it risks getting worse.
'The drop in stock numbers represents a lost opportunity. We owe it to farmers to face this challenge head-on.'
Acland said greater collaboration among competing companies was a sensible strategic approach.
'If we want a future-fit industry, we need to be bold about optimising capacity and about how we collaborate,' she said.
'The fall in stock numbers is particularly frustrating because at a time when there's strong demand globally and high export prices, our processors have not been able to capitalise on this.
'Our exports would have been hundreds of millions [of dollars] higher if the supply had been there.'
The conference came during a time when the country's only farmer-owned red meat co-operative, Alliance Group, was preparing a case on private investment for its farmer-shareholders to vote on in the coming months.
Alliance announced the decision to shut its historic Smithfield meat plant in Timaru in October, amid dropping livestock numbers, particularly breeding ewes, with 600 people losing their jobs.
Farmers were getting record prices for beef; however, they were driven in part by good demand amid tighter supplies.
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay speaking at the Red Meat Sector Conference in Christchurch on Tuesday. Photo / RNZ
Furthermore, New Zealand imported a near-record volume of beef from Australia in June, as processors worked to secure greater volumes to match meat-plant capacity.
Meanwhile, Minister for Agriculture and Trade and Investment Todd McClay said the Government was working to 'get Wellington out of farming' to enable primary sector growth and bring value back to the farm gate.
'We want to reduce regulation and cost on-farm,' McClay said.
'I reckon it's a great time to be a farmer in New Zealand at the moment.
'As there are challenges fronting up around the world, geopolitics, tariffs, protectionism, and so on, the world still needs high-quality, safe food.
'And you don't get higher quality of safer food anywhere in the world [than here], with a wonderful carbon footprint story to tell.'
McClay said the Government invested in the $8 million Taste Pure Nature campaign with industry to strengthen red meat's position in China, to drive better returns for farmers and processors.
Stats NZ figures show sheep numbers dropped 3% in 2024 to 23.6 million sheep, while deer numbers dropped 4% between 2023 and 2024 to 709,000.
However, the beef boom has kept stock numbers relatively stable, rising 1% in the last year to 3.7 million beef cattle.
– RNZ
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