Deer velvet prices bounce back

Regulatory changes in China last year led to a loss of buyer confidence and an unexpected slump in prices following seven consecutive years of steady growth.
Deer Industry New Zealand market manager Rhys Griffiths said renewed demand early this season underpinned price recovery and was set to put velvet back on track.
“The season started with a hiss and a roar and while it’s not over yet it’s certainly shaping up to be a much improved season on last year where we had a blip in what had been a very good previous seven-year trend.
“Certainly, last year the prices were unacceptable and that was disappointing when the underlying demand for velvet in South Korea and China was still strong.”
Griffiths said last season’s result did not reflect the steady growth in demand for NZ velvet in its major markets, including China and Korea.
Many contracts this season had been signed very early at prices that reflected as much as a 25% lift on last year.
“The overall trend is making a nice recovery back into that firming trend and looking very positive.”
Griffiths said the lift was encouraging for farmers who had invested heavily into upgrading onfarm velvet facilities to comply with new regulations.
“Farmers are demonstrating real pride in the industry and it’s good to see that being rewarded.”
But there was still a lot of work to be done as the industry continued to increase demand for velvet in the healthy food channels.
“Production is increasing and demand is increasing so it’s all working very nicely.
“We just have got to keep pushing that along and replicate what we are doing in South Korea into China and other new markets.”
Griffiths cited Taiwan and Asia as potential markets that understand the value of velvet.
There is growing inquiry from southeast Asian countries where there was a deep respect for traditional Chinese medicine and velvet’s role in it.
Taiwan and Japan also held potential that would be explored.
Meantime, South Korea remained the dominant market with about 60% of all NZ velvet consumed there.
“But we do need to keep an eye on it to see that we don’t get out of balance between increasing production and demand as we keep searching for new markets.”
The recent annual velvet and trophy antler competition was a shining showcase for the industry.
The Rupert family of Geraldine was the big winner.
A stunning 12.14kg head from their stag Axell 1183 won the PGG Wrightson Allcomers Trophy for the best velvet in the competition as well as the open Red deer section.
The Rupert family’s entries also came third in the three-year old Red section and first in the four-year old Red section.
The head from Ronaldo 340, which won the Trish and John Fogarty Deer and Livestock Cup for four-year old Reds, attracted only 19.08 demerit points – the lowest for any Red entry in this year’s competition.
The head with the best score on the night was an Elk Supreme entry from Storm 09, Clachanburn Elk, weighing 20.08kg, which attracted only 19 demerit points.
The top Elk head and the PGG Wrightson Allcomers Trophy reserve champion came from W61, a 16.08kg entry from Littlebourne Farm, Winton.
The People’s Choice Award went to Geoff Elder of Riversdale for a head from Altrive 22-14, the clear winner of the three-year old Red section.
The big winner in the trophy antler sections was the Whyte Farming Company from Ashburton.
The Whytes took home the Landcorp Trophy for the overall champion with a 564 7/8 point, 22.88kg head from their seven-year old bull Seattle, which also won the non-typical section for Elk-Wapiti antler.
Competition organiser Bruce Paterson said the competition was a huge success with a feature being the number and quality of the three and four year Red velvet entries.
This year the scoring had been tweaked so weight contributed a maximum of 35 points.
“This means it doesn’t have such a big influence on the final score and farmers with well-cut entries with very good style now stand a better chance of being successful,” Paterson said.