Meat season hits the wall, says Barber

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Cattle supply has virtually dried up earlier than expected this season, Allan Barber has found. Writing in his most recent blog, he says settlement of the industrial dispute at AFFCO barely came in time to beat the passing of the season’s processing peak. Contrary to expectations that the supply of cattle, particularly cull dairy cows, would last until the end of June at least, the flow has virtually dried up.

Barber has been talking to B+LNZ Ltd’s Economic Service executive director Rob Davision. Read more …

Second Red Meat Sector Conference

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Closing speaker for conference: clinical psychologist Nigel Latta.

High quality speakers and ample opportunities to network are on offer to delegates from the meat industry, farming and their service sectors at this year’s Red Meat Sector Conference.

We’ve been given a sneak preview of the content of the meat industry’s second annual conference, which will take place at the Rydges Lakeland Resort in Queenstown. The event is co-hosted once again by the Meat Industry Association (MIA) and Beef + Lamb New Zealand Ltd (B+LNZ).

Keynote speakers include clinical psychologist, author and self-confessed ‘wearer of socks’ Nigel Latta and Swazi Apparel’s Davey Hughes. They are joined by a dozen or so other presenters to focus once more on the core themes identified in the Red Meat Sector Strategy launched in May 2011.

After scene-setting presentations from Colin James of the Hugo Group and Richard Brown of European market research group GIRA, three sessions will cover the themes of the Sector Strategy.

In session one: meeting the needs of consumers will be the focus of Arron Hoyle of McDonald’s and Murray Johnston of Progressive Enterprises, while John Carroll of AVANZA avocado growers will look at managing market supply.

Australian and US perspectives regarding procurement will be explored in the second session, while best practices will be explored by B+LNZ Economic Service’s Rob Davison, Mark Paine of Dairy NZ and farming leader Doug Avery.

The conference will close with a session on behavioural change from Nigel Latta.

Two major social events are planned during the conference; a Welcome Cocktail Function, supported by Hamburg Sud, to be held on the evening of Sunday 15 July; and a Gala Dinner, sponsored by Maersk Line, to be held on the evening of Monday 16 July at which Davey Hughes of Swazi Apparel will speak.

For the first time, ANZ bank has taken the premier sponsorship role.

Don’t miss out: register online and find more information at www.mia.co.nz.

RED MEAT SECTOR CONFERENCE: THANKS TO SPONSORS

Premier: ANZ

Gala Dinner: Maersk Line

Welcome Cocktail Function: Hamburg Sud NZ Ltd.

Pre-networking drinks: Milmeq

Morning and afternoon teas: Triton Commercial Systems

Gold: AgResearch, Bell Gully, Ecolab, Milmeq and System Controls Ltd.

Silver: Industrial Research Ltd, NAIT Ltd, Port of Tauranga, SATO NZ Ltd and Sealed Air NZ.

Delegate bags: Bemis Flexible Packaging Australasia Ltd.

Other: Marfret Compagnie Maritime.

Published in Food NZ magazine (June/July 2012).

 

Win-win at last for AFFCO and workers, says Barber

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It was a hell of a long time coming, but the return to work for AFFCO’s workforce, or at least the half who were on strike or locked out has finally arrived, comments Allan Barber, in an article which appeared in NZ Farmers Weekly  this week.

Ninety-five percent of the union members ratified the settlement by Monday last week which is a substantial majority, although it makes me wonder why the other five percent still wanted to hold out. Both sides are heralding a good outcome, which I suppose is what you would say after a three month dispute has been settled.  Read more …

New head for AsureQuality

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AsureQuality has a new chief executive. Michael Thomas, previously PGG Wrightson’s group general manager for agri services, financial services and its South American operation in Christchurch, started on 5 June 2012.

During his time with PGG Wrightson, Thomas had responsibility for over 1,800 staff and $700 million annual revenue. Prior to this, Michael spent 10 years in group general management positions in Australia’s leading Agri services company Landmark, and parent company AWB (Australian Wheat Board).

AsureQuality says that Thomas brings “a unique blend of strong industry knowledge and involvement in the food and agricultural sectors, both in New Zealand and overseas; and will continue to extend the breadth and quality of the company’s services in Australasia and internationally.”

The Board is delighted to recruit such an experienced and highly-regarded chief executive to lead the next phase of the company’s development.

Export meat price fall confirmed, but temporary

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A fall in merchandise export prices for meat products has been confirmed by Statistics New Zealand in its latest figures comparing the March 2012 quarter against December 2011. However, this is expected by some to be temporary and export prices should improve later this year.

Overall, merchandise export prices fell by 3.8 percent in the same quarter, reflecting a 5.5 percent appreciation of the New Zealand dollar (according to the Reserve Bank’s trade weighted average). Amongst the falls for major commodity groups, prices for meat products (especially lamb), which accounted for 12 percent of exports, were down by 3.6 percent in the quarter, while other price falls were recorded for dairy (-5.6 percent) and forestry (-4.2 percent) products.

New Zealand’s merchandise terms of trade (the ratio of export prices to import prices) fell by 2.3 percent in the March 2012 quarter when compared with December 2011 – the third consecutive quarterly decrease since the terms of trade peaked in the June 2011 quarter, Statistics NZ says.

Looking at the wider market implications, Westpac’s senior economist Anne Boniface says the  data broadly confirms Westpac’s understanding of the NZ economy and on its own won’t change the outlook for the Reserve Bank. “Nonetheless, export prospects are certainly dimming this year. But while acknowledging the near–term weakness in commodity prices and its impact on the NZ economy, we must keep the recent moves in perspective – the terms of trade remains 10 percent above its average levels of the last decade,” she says, adding that current weakness is expected to be cyclical rather than structural. “By the final quarter of this year, stimulatory policies by authorities in China should be starting to gain traction, boosting growth and demand for commodities. Consequently, we expect to see commodity prices stabilise and start to improve.”

Boniface remains firmly optimistic about prospects for New Zealand export prices over a longer horizon, she says.

KPMG’s Agribusiness Agenda points the way forward

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The KPMG Agribusiness Agenda 2012, released this week, contains interesting observations which have been gathered from conversations with nearly 100 business leaders, says Allan Barber, who recently reviewed the report.

But like most strategy documents I have ever read, the conclusions never quite seem to live up to the anticipation. However, this is a solid document with good ideas. Read more …

 

AFFCO’s union dispute finally settled

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Allan Barber credits iwi for the final settlement of AFFCO’s union dispute.

 It’s been a long 10 weeks, he wrote in an article which appeared on interest.co.nz on 24 May and also in NZ Farmers Weekly, both for the company and especially the workforce. At last both sides have exercised some flexibility and reached agreement on a new Core Collective Agreement.

It has taken some urging by Iwi leaders to get there in what is the first time Iwi have taken such a leading role in dispute settlement. Tukoroirangi Morgan, representing Tainui, was clearly elated at the successful outcome, saying “History has been made here and role of Iwi in the modern industrial society has been forever changed.” He paid credit to all the main players in what he said was as tough a negotiating process as the Treaty negotiations, Allan writes.

Read more here …

 

Carter to Russia and US

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David Carter, NZ Primary Industries MinisterPrimary Industries Minister David Carter is representing New Zealand at the APEC Food Security Ministerial meeting in Russia next week and will also travel to the US for a round of high level agriculture meetings.

The APEC meeting in Kazan will focus on a range of issues concerning agricultural productivity, including longer-term investment in sustainable agriculture and the role of international trade in improving food security.

“As a leading food exporter with world-class expertise in agricultural production, New Zealand knows only too well the importance of global food security,” Carter says.

“To this end, New Zealand has taken an active role in promoting multi-country cooperation such as through the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases. We also continue to promote a rules-based trading system to ensure consumers have access to a reliable food supply.”

The Minister will travel to Washington DC to meet with a number of political agriculture leaders and industry representatives.

“These meetings will further strengthen the New Zealand-US bilateral relationship and give our two countries the opportunity to discuss issues such as the positive collaboration on research into livestock-generated greenhouse gas emissions,” he says.

“I also look forward to discussing with my US counterpart and others the mutual benefits that will be realised through the high quality Trans-Pacific Partnership Free Trade Agreement currently under negotiation.”

The Minister will also make a stop in Hong Kong to address an event showcasing New Zealand food and wines.

World Meat Congress 2012

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In June, the International Meat Secretariat’s 19th World Meat Congress will take place in Paris, attracting 1,000 meat industry participants from all over the world, including New Zealand.

Taking a turn at organising the biennial Congress this time are the two French meat and livestock associations, Interbev and Inaporc, under the official patronage of the French Ministry of Agriculture. The Congress theme is ‘Proudly producing and trading meat.’

B+LNZ Ltd chief executive Scott Champion and AgResearch’s Stewart Ledgard are two of the 40 or so speakers presenting at the two day congress.  Champion will talk about ‘Sheepmeat in Asia – what are the opportunities and challenges’, while Ledgard will look at ‘Life Cycle Assessment and the need for an internationally agreed methodology’.

Other interesting speakers include Christophe Lafougere of GIRAG, ‘Are we moving towards a world price for meat?’ and ‘Meat marketing supertrends’ from IMS marketing committee chairman Chris Lamb, plus US, China and EU views.

 

 

 

First international standards adopted for animal welfare in livestock production

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The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) has adopted new generic guiding principles on animal welfare relating to livestock production systems and a new chapter on the welfare of cattle bred for meat production.

Agreement was reached at the OIE’s 80th General Session, held in Paris and was said to be siginficant by the OIE’s director general Bernard Vallet after delegates’ failure in 2011 to reach agreement on animal welfare of broiler chickens. “This is an historical event that opens the way to adoption of animal welfare standards of other farm animal production,” he said.

The new adopted texts provide for criteria and indicators to measure the welfare of beef cattle, nutritious quality of feed, supplementary lighting for cattle that do not have access to natural light, bedding and many other aspects of cattle breeding conditions.

Other key decisions reached by delegates include new texts on the responsible and prudent use of antibiotics in animals for consumption purposes.