Monthly Archives: November 2012

B+LNZ scoops Plain English web award

Posted on by
Reply

Congratulations to Beef + Lamb NZ Ltd, which has just scooped the prize for best private sector website at this year’s WriteMark New Zealand Plain English Awards.

The judges were impressed with B+LNZ Ltd’s strong commitment to plain English. “The purpose is really clear and the pages show plain language, active verbs, and short sentences. Useful summaries and clear navigation help site visitors quickly find what they need.”

Chief executive Scott Champion says farmers are the “ultimate straight talkers” so the organisation wanted to make sure the newly revamped website did the same.

“We worked hard to get our website to where it is now, so we’re absolutely thrilled to win this award. We reckon we can do even better still, but it’s splendid to know we’re off to a good start.”

You can check out the award-winning website at www.beeflambnz.com.

Understanding food protein at heart of science prize

Posted on by
Reply

A world-renowned contribution to the understanding of food protein has led to Distinguished Professor Paul Moughan and Professor Harjinder Singh together being awarded this year’s Prime Minister’s Science Prize – New Zealand’s most valuable award for scientific achievement.

The $500,000 award goes to the two who are Massey University food scientists and co-directors of the Riddet Institute, a centre of research excellence led from the Manawatū campus that focuses on food and health innovation.

Their contribution to food protein science is world-renowned. Singh’s expertise is in food protein structures and how they interact in food systems while Moughan’s work focuses on how proteins are broken down and absorbed in the digestive system and the resulting physiological benefits.

“It’s a marriage made in heaven,” says Moughan. Between us we cover the whole spectrum of food protein science, which is rare worldwide.”

Examples of innovation from their work include the development of a highly effective probiotic, ProBioLife, establishing the health benefits of kiwifruit which is giving Zespri an edge globally and a technology that allows high doses of fish-oil-dervied Omega-3 fatty acids to be added to food products without a fishy smell and after taste.

A recent focus has been developing a novel process to isolate proteins and peptides in low cost meat products and use them in a food product that has been shown to have health benefits for older people. The product is being commercialised by a New Zealand meat company.

The two scientists teamed up more than a decade ago to establish the Riddet Institute as a world-leading centre for food science research. Since 2003, the Institute has secured over $40 million in research funding and used it to carry out fundamental and strategic research and apply the knowledge to create new food products, processes and systems. The Institute has also trained 80 postgraduate scholars and 30 postdoctoral fellows.

“A lot of new ideas and ways of thinking are generated at the Riddet Institute and graduates take that knowledge out into industry,” says Singh.

In addition, the Institute has established Riddet Foodlink, a network of more than 100 companies interested in food innovation and research that work with Riddet Institute researchers.

The winning team plans to use $400,000 of the prize money for on-going research to commercialise discoveries made at the Riddet Institute. “We have a lot of bright minds that come up with really good ideas,” says Singh, adding that the prize money will allow the Institute to screen those ideas and take the most promising through to the next stage.

Moughan says he and Singh are honoured to have won the Prime Minister’s Science Prize and see it as recognition that science and technology is a key to New Zealand’s future. “Food is New Zealand’s biggest industry and there is great opportunity to leverage it further, through advanced scientific understanding, to grow the economy and improve our standard of living. We are privileged to be at the heart of that opportunity.”

Touch screen at Tesco

Posted on by
Reply

One of New Zealand meat’s biggest customers, Tesco, is trialling new technology – a giant 80 inch touch screen giving shoppers interactive access to more than 11,000 toy products – in one of its key stores in the run up to Christmas.

Shoppers at the UK’s largest retailer’s Cheshunt Extra store, have been experiencing the latest retail experience: browsing the full range of toys available on tesco.com and filtering what’s available by age, gender and price. They can then place an order by printing a ticket for Click and Collect or by using their mobiles, by using a QR code on the screen or by sending a text message to get a weblink. Some products will be able to be rotated 360 degrees and all come with full descriptions.

Just a sample of the future sophisticated modern retail environment New Zealand’s meat exporters are working in, the three-month trial has been running at Cheshunt Extra since late October. The application was designed and developed by Tesco’s in-house R&D team, using the giant touch screen, provided by u-touch in collaboration with Computacenter. The innovation builds on another recent trial of a virtual grocery store at Gatwick Airport, which also offered  customers instant touch-screen access to online and mobile ordering in a convenient location.

Tesco’s UK general merchandise director Neela Mukherjee says, “Our focus is on making shopping as convenient as possible for our customers and we also want to make sure store customers don’t miss out on the growing range of products we have available online. This giant screen makes use of a single section of the store to offer shoppers access to an enormous range of toys, like being able to stroll down the longest aisle in the world.”

 

 

 

Nearly two million more lambs, but still third smallest lamb crop

Posted on by
Reply

Nearly two million more lambs have been tailed this spring, according to the latest figures, which also forecast 8.4 percent more available for processing this season. 

Lamb Crop 2012, the latest report from Beef + Lamb New Zealand’s Economic Service, shows that an estimated 26.9 million lambs were tailed, 1.9 million more than last year.

Even then, this will be the third smallest lamb crop since the early 1950s. Only the previous two years were lower.

This year’s increase was due to slightly more ewes mated (+0.6 percent) and the sheep being in good condition thanks to favourable feed conditions before mating. There was also an increase in the number of lambs born from hoggets, according to Economic Service executive director, Rob Davison.

“The average lambing percentage across the country was 123 lambs born per hundred ewes – up from 119 in 2011.”

Davison said this result confirmed the pregnancy scanning results from earlier in the year, signalled in September’s New Season Outlook 2012-13.

“There were pockets of unfavourable weather in some areas during lambing, but farm management practices ensured good lamb survival,” Davison said.

In the North Island, there was a small increase (1.2 percent) in the number of breeding ewes compared with last spring and good lambing weather, combined with stock in good condition, drove the lambing percentage up from 118 percent to 123 percent.

In the South Island, ewe numbers were the same as last season, but the number of lambs born was higher. The lambing percentage increased from 121 percent to 123 percent and the weather was a lot better than the year before.

“Significantly there was a sharp increase in the number of lambs from hoggets because more were mated due to favourable feed conditions. Also evident, was a structural change to a younger flock, with more than usual older and poorer performing ewes culled before mating.”

The B+LNZ Economic Service forecasts that there will be 20.5 million lambs available for processing in the 2012-13 season – up an estimated 8.4 per cent. This contrasts with last season’s 18.9 million, which was the lowest since 1960-61.

The increase will be partially offset by an expected 2.1 percent decrease in average carcase weight to 18.3 kg. This follows a return to more normal climatic conditions after good growing conditions last season saw lambs reach a record 18.7 kg.

Other key points from the report are:

  • North Island export lamb slaughter estimated to increase 12 per cent to 9.9 million, an increase of 1.1 million lambs
  • South Island export lamb slaughter estimated to go up 5.3 per cent to 10.6 million, an increase of 500,000 lambs
  • While there will be more lambs, there has been a sharp correction in lamb prices – $5-6 per kg early in the season, compared to over $8 per kg in 2011.

Sainsbury’s cadet hosted by Alliance Group

Posted on by
Reply

Leading meat processor and exporter Alliance Group is hosting a representative of one of the UK’s leading supermarkets.

Anna Ballantyne, 22, of Evesham, Worcestershire in England, is visiting Southland-based Alliance Group to gain an insight into the industry including the co-operative’s work in meat quality testing, packaging developments and extending product shelf life.

The 22-year old, who has a Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Nutrition and Food Science, is taking part in the supermarket’s six-week ‘Taste the World’ programme, which sees students working with Sainsbury’s suppliers and partners around the globe.

Each cadet gets involved in specific project work as well as obtaining a general understanding of Alliance technical and quality programmes.

Ballantyne is also spending time on the road with the company’s livestock representatives and seeing first-hand the company’s Lorneville plant boning room operations.

The cadet, who will join Sainsbury’s as a full-time employee on her return to the UK, will have a stint in Alliance Group’s product development centre, where the company undertakes research into meat taste and tenderness.

The co-operative is regularly exploring how meat quality can be improved by factors such as genetics and farm management practices and uses trained panellists for taste and tenderness trials.

Alliance Group is the major supplier of New Zealand lamb to Sainsbury’s through its UK marketing company, New Zealand Farmers Ltd.

Murray Brown, general manager of marketing at Alliance Group, said the visit was further evidence of the ever-strengthening links between the cooperative and its UK retail partner.

“Sainsbury’s is the second largest retailer of lamb in the UK and has a loyal customer base of lamb consumers.

“Alliance Group enjoys a strong partnership with Sainsbury’s and so it’s important their employees gain an understanding of our lamb production systems, our quality assurance programmes, commitment to sustainability, relationship with our suppliers and our procurement programmes.

“This visit is also timely given one of our key selling periods for quality in-season chilled lamb to Sainsbury’s is around Christmas leading into Easter.”

Ballantyne is the fourth Sainsbury ‘Taste the World’ representative Alliance Group has hosted and another three cadets are due to visit the cooperative between now and the end of the 2013 processing season, he said.

 

MWU has net assets of $5 million

Posted on by
Reply

A year after meat industry commentator Allan Barber started to try to uncover the true state of the Meat Workers Union (MWU)’s finances, the consolidated accounts have been posted on the Incorporated Societies website.

In an item that has appeared in NZ Farmers’ Weekly this week and at his own blog, Allan says that in contrast to the original set of accounts which showed the national office as having net assets of less than $1 million, the true picture incorporating all the branches shows net assets of $5 million.

In his analysis, Barber says “there doesn’t appear to be anything suspicious in the corrected accounts” and that they provide an accurate figure of annual membership fees, expenses incurred on behalf of the membership and the assets owned by the MWU. Fixed assets of $1.051 million include a $481 million loan to the Canterbury Meat Workers Welfare Society, which has been used to buy holiday cottages which are available for the benefit of all of the union’s members, according to the annual accounts.

Two items of particular interest for Barber are the substantial amount of money in the bank, reported as well in excess of $4 million, and the fact the Union as a whole has run at a loss for at least the last two financial years.

Barber notes that annual subscriptions, almost certainly falling in line with lower livestock numbers and efficiency improvements, are not quite enough to cover the level of expenses but appear to be under control.

“So other than the cost and inconvenience of being required to present consolidated accounts for all branches and head office, this all seems as though it will be a fairly painless exercise in future,” says Barber.

Read more …

Landcorp to return $20 million dividend to government

Posted on by
Reply

State-owned farm, Landcorp, has had a solid performance this year according to its latest accounts, says meat industry commentator Allan Barber.

Landcorp’s net operating profit of $27 million for 2011/12 was down on the previous year, but still a good performance, Barber says in a recent blog, adding that the SOE will pay a $20 million dividend to the Government.

During the year, it produced 10,176 tonnes of sheepmeat, 9,715 tonnes of beef and 2,258 tonnes of venison, as well as large volumes of milk solids, wool and timber.

Landcorp has a target of selling 80 percent of its lambs on fixed price contracts to Silver Fern Farms, Alliance and other meat companies and last year achieved in excess of 70 percent by this method, proving to its satisfaction that this provides less volatile and overall better market returns than spot trading. Lamb production is geared to meet specific weights and specification to fulfill meat companies’ contracts with northern hemisphere retailers.

As a founder partner with Silver Fern Farms and the Ministry for Primary Industries in FarmIQ Systems, Landcorp is committed to the development of integrated value chains from pasture to plate, designed to align New Zealand production and supply with consumer demand preferences. Twelve of Landcorp’s farms are now on FarmIQ’s farm management system.

The development which attracted the most publicity was the joint venture with Shanghai Pengxin to manage the 16 Crafar dairy farmers bought from the receivers and expected to get underway shortly. This fits in with Landcorp’s goal to increase its involvement in the dairy industry and a further “extension to Maronan Dairies in mid-Canterbury and further development Wairakei Estates near Taupo will contribute to this,” Barber believes.

Sheep and beef finishing has been boosted by the development of Cheltenham Downs in Manawatu and this has helped recovery from the drought years of 2007 and 2008, reports Barber.

Over the past 22 years, Landcorp has paid dividends to the government; therefore, New Zealand as a while, of nearly half a billion dollars.

“There’s no evidence that Landcorp is constrained by public ownership or that it would benefit from part privatisation,” concludes Barber.

Read the full blog item here at Barber’s Meaty Issues …

This item has also appeared at www.interest.co.nz.

 

Value of exported goods, including meat, falls

Posted on by
Reply

The value of New Zealand’s exported goods fell $423 million (11 percent) to $3.5 billion in October 2012, compared with October 2011, says Statistics New Zealand.

“Almost half of the fall in export values was due to the falling value of dairy,” industry and labour statistics manager Louise Holmes-Oliver says. “This was despite an increase in dairy quantities.”

The value of imports rose $70 million (1.7 percent). Contributors to this rise were capital goods, up $94 million, and consumption goods, up $64 million, while intermediate goods fell $83 million.

The trade balance for October 2012 was a deficit of $718 million (21 percent of exports). This compares with a deficit of $226 million (5.8 percent of exports) in October 2011.

Seasonally adjusted exports fell 14 percent compared with September 2012. There was a large fall in milk powder, butter, and cheese exports, following two large decreases in August and September. Seasonally adjusted imports fell 8.0 percent in October 2012.

The seasonally adjusted meat and edible offal commodity grouping fell by eight percent ($39 million), with quantities down 12 percent. This follows increases in both values and quantities in September 2012. Trends show that the group has been rising since its most recent low point of March 2011 and is one percent lower than its high of July 2011.

The trend for exports remains at a high level, but is 6.3 percent lower than its peak of November 2011. The trend for imports has shown little change in recent months, and is now 7.0 percent lower than its record high of September 2008.

Global meat industry hurting, signs show …

Aside

Reply

The New Zealand meat industry isn’t the only one suffering around the globe as news reports this week are showing signs of hurting businesses and a changing global scene.

In addition to Vion pulling out of the UK – a reflection of the tough trading conditions, says an item in meatinfo.co.uk – the Canadian pork industry has been warning of massive losses, according to an item in Globalmeatnews.com.

In the US, concern was also noted in a recent Wall Street Journal article “Meat firms face hit to plump profits’ as massive global meat processor Tyson Foods prepared to report its quarterly figures. However, Tyson’s results came out on Monday carrying an optimistic note for the next three years and shares rallied by nearly 10%. The company says it will focus on prepared foods and value-added poultry to “weather the anticipated increase in feed costs during the coming year” (meatandpoultry.com).

In the UK, a management buy-in from previous owner ANM has saved struggling meat processor Yorkshire Premier Meats, says foodmanufacture.co.uk, while another ANM-owned company, Scotch Premier Meats, cut 30 jobs in May.

Meanwhile, JBS SA is planning to build six more plants in Brazil on the basis of growing global demand, with a focus on grass-fed beef, reports MENAFN.com. However, foot and mouth disease continues to hold Brazilian beef exports back from Asian markets.

India was forecast by Rabobank’s global arm last week to become the world’s biggest beef exporter next year. Basing its claim on United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) figures, exports of buffalo meat from India are expected to rise to two million tonnes as Indian dairy farmers slaughter unproductive animals from their large and expanding dairy herd in response to high prices for meat.

Pet food and jerky emerging as export growth opportunities

Posted on by
Reply

Pet food and prepared/processed beef products like beef jerky, or biltong, are two emerging growth opportunities for the New Zealand meat industry that have been identified in a newly released Coriolis report An Investor’s Guide to Emerging Growth Opportunities in New Zealand Food and Beverage Exports.

Strategic management consultants Coriolis carried out the report on behalf of the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) to identify emerging high potential food and beverage export categories.

The report filtered out various export categories over $100 million each, such as boneless frozen and chilled lamb, bone-in sheepmeat, boneless and bone-in frozen and chilled beef, meat and edible offal (including venison), fats of beef, sheep or goats, as they “represent New Zealand’s core food and beverage exports” and also categories under $2 million. This left a core 129 categories for analysis.

Pet food and jerky were two of the initial 25 categories short-listed for their emerging export growth potential. Two more meat industry related categories – protein concentrates and textured protein substances and sausages – just missed the initial cut, with frozen chicken cuts also being dropped out of the final 20 as it had low potential export growth.

Pet food has a large global market, strongly growing demand and opportunities for growth in Asia, especially China, Australia and other rich countries, the analysis shows alongside information showing the category is capital intensive, requires some skills and has moderate trade access. Pet food has already attracted investment from US-owned Watties and Mars NZ and Swiss-owned Nestle NZ. Currently, exports are worth US$169 million, out of a global market worth US$13.8 billion, but the “possible size of the prize” by 2025 could be in excess of US$500 million, says Coriolis.

Beef jerky has received inward investment from US company Jack Link’s, which has grown the category markedly in recent years. New Zealand’s exports of processed/preserved beef are currently worth US$83 million, out of a global market worth US$7.4 billion, but he potential prize lies between $100-200 million for the category to 2025, says Coriolis. Opportunities lie in Asia, but making jerky is a capital intensive process that requires skills.. The UK is seen to have potential for the product

Report: a “vital resource”

New Zealand Food and Grocery Council chief executive Katherine Rich says the report is a vital resource for anyone in the food industry or someone looking to invest in it. This is the first time this information has been collected in such as easy-to-reference format.

“The food industry is the backbone of the economy and is always looking for investment to grow export opportunities. It is important that this additional investment is attracted so new Zealand can take advantage of the significant growth opportunities presenting themselves, particularly in Asia as the middle class there grows,” she says.

“It is perhaps not surprising that the sectors identified by the report as showing the greatest potential to grab these opportunities are ones where New Zealand could have a competitive advantage: salmon, honey, spirits, biscuits, pet food, cherries and infant formula,” says Rich, adding that there are other areas too, including beef jerky.

“As the report identifies, our exports of these top categories in 2010 were greater than the wine industry ($1.03 billion as against $951 million) and most of them are growing faster than all other food and beverage exports. Some 17 of them have already attracted foreign and/or private equity investment, indicating that the market itself has identified they present strong opportunities for growth.”

The categories of processed goods are already having an impact. “But what is most exciting is that Coriolis predicts that if they all acheived their potential we would be looking at exports worth between $4.3 billion and $6.1 billion – approximately $4.9 billion additional.”

To achieve the Government’s goal of increasing exports by 40 percent by 2025, each of these categories needs to continue to grow, says Rich. “This MBIE report will play a critical role in informing this plan.”

An Investor’s Guide to Emerging Growth Opportunities in New Zealand Food and Beverage Exports can be read online at the www.foodandbeverage.govt.nz website, where you can also download a pdf copy.