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Dropping Livestock Numbers Dominate Red Meat Sector Event
New Zealand red meat exports earned an extra $1.2 billion this year, due to good livestock pricing and tighter supplies.
But the country's $10 billion red meat sector has raised the alarm that it was struggling to get the numbers of livestock through the meat works it needed to feed hungry international consumers.
More than 300 red meat producers, processors and marketers gathered in Ōtautahi for the Red Meat Sector Conference on Tuesday.
While import tariffs into key market the United States and subdued consumer demand in China were top of the agenda, the surity of livestock supply underpinned the sector's concerns for a resilient future.
The latest figures from StatsNZ showed the national sheep flock and deer herd were continuing to decline.
Industry group Beef and Lamb New Zealand's chairperson Kate Acland told the event, 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," she 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."
She 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 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 of 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.
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, Todd McClay, Minister for Agriculture and Trade and Investment, said the Government was working to "get Wellington out of farming" to enable primary sector growth, and bring value back to the farmgate.
"We want to reduce regulation and cost on farm," he 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 with a wonderful carbon footprint story to tell."
He said the government invested in the $8 million Taste Pure Natire campaign with industry to strengthen red meat's position in China, to drive better returns for farmers and processors.
StatsNZ figures showing sheep numbers dropped three percent in 2024 to 23.6 million sheep, while deer numbers dropped 4 percent between 2023 and 2024 to 709,000.
However, the beef boom has kept stock numbers relatively stable rising one percent in the last year to 3.7 million beef cattle.
RNZ
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