The caution adopted by China towards NZ’s lamb is largely unchanged. Lesser-value flaps remain more attractive to Chinese buyers than mutton and forequarters.
“Interest beyond the festive season has been limited. Buyers are being much more cautious than usual, as they attempt to avoid a situation seen earlier in the year where large backlogs of stock were not sold”, AgriHQ analyst Reece Brick said.
“The most optimistic finding is in the UK market, where the Easter chilled trade is looking on par with last year”.
Beef exports were lower in October than in September – however, they were up 34% on October 2014. The downside is prices were back 11% on the same month in 2014, with the average unit price for all exports at US$5.00/kg.
A shift in the destination of NZ beef was the most notable recent finding.
“Poor prices and quota concerns in the US were enough to see exports halve to the US between September and October.
“A drop of this magnitude has not been experienced since at least 1990,” Brick said.
“With exports to the US dropping, China leapfrogged the US to become NZ’s largest export destination for beef – the first time the US has not been the leading market since AgriHQ records began in 1990.”
Looking forward across international markets, there is some further potential bad news for NZ beef exporters.
“Brazil is edging ever closer to gaining access into the US.
“It has been reported that employees of the USDA are currently in Brazil, viewing processing plants with a view to grant access into the US market should they meet the required standards.”
Brazilian beef is already having an effect on some of NZ’s other major beef markets with a recent influx of Brazilian beef into China”, Brick said.
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