The NZ Meat Board, which allocates this country’s quota, has awarded Dunedin-based SFF a 29.9% share of the quota for exports of beef and veal to the US in the 2016 calendar year, and 22.3% share of the EU sheep meat and goat meat quota, according to a notice published on its website.
The quota allotments, inked during the Uruguay trade talks, allow companies to export NZ beef and veal to the US at a tariff rate of 4.4 US cents a kilogram, compared with a 26.4% tariff rate on the value of products exported outside the quota.
NZ exported about 191,000 tonnes of beef to the US in the 10 months through October, suggesting it could reach its US annual quota of 213,402 tonnes for the first time since 2004.
NZ beef volumes have increased as dairy farmers cull more cows following a slump in returns for dairy products, and as cattle farmers increase stock weights to benefit from record high prices.
Exports of NZ sheep meat and goat meat within the country’s total EU quota allowance of 228,000 tonnes attract no duty.
However, despite this NZ exporters have failed to meet their quota targets in recent years, fulfilling an average 70% of this country’s allocated quota in the past three years, according to Meat and Livestock Australia, which notes that NZ has a distinct advantage within the market, receiving 80% of the total quota available.
Alliance Group, the Invercargill-based, farmer-owned co-operative, received NZ’s biggest quota for EU sheep meat and goat meat, with a 27.8% share, while its US beef allocation fell to 8.6% from 8.8%, causing it to slip to fifth position behind Greenlea Premier Meats.
AFFCO, controlled by Talleys Group, increased its share of both quotas for the coming year. In beef to the US, it held the third largest position with its share increasing to 18.7% from 17.4%. For EU sheep and goat meat, its share of quota rose to 14.1% from 12.6%.
ANZCO Foods – through its Canterbury Meat Packers, Five Star Beef and Riverlands units – has the second largest beef quota allocation to the US, with a 19.4% share, and the fourth largest EU sheep and goat meat quota allocation to the EU, with 9.5% of the total.
