Chinese premier Li Keqiang gave the green light for the premium-priced cuts to head to China on a trial basis during a visit here in March.
The plants for the trial were nominated by the Meat Industry Association in consultation with the Ministry for Primary Industries late last month.
MPI was awaiting approval of the list from China’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) but had no indication of when that could be expected or when the trial could start.
It was understood the big four exporters – Silver Fern Farms, Alliance, Anzco and Affco – were allocated two plants each.
Hamilton beef processor Greenlea Premier Meats and Craig Hickson’s Ovation were the two other plants.
An MPI spokesman said a mix of multi-species and single species beef and sheep processing plants were put forward for consideration by AQSIQ.
Companies had to demonstrate relationships with distributors in China with facilities capable of handling chilled meat. Scale and geographic spread were also considered.
Industry players expected little delay in having their plants approved by the Chinese but conceded there was always an element of doubt when dealing with authorities in Beijing.
If the trial could start relatively soon it would take in the low part of the New Zealand production season.
Affco director Rowan Ogg said the low volumes that would cross the wharves if the trial were to take in the second half of the year were not necessarily a disadvantage.
“Clearly, we want to make sure this is a success, that we can demonstrate very clearly to the Chinese authorities that the integrity of our chilled programmes are beyond reproach and what we do not want to do is overload the infrastructure they have in China and the ability of them to handle it up there.”
Ogg hoped China would extend access once the six months was up but it was still not a certainty.
“Our own view is that while we want to take full advantage of the trial it is not there to really to make a huge profit out of but to demonstrate to the Chinese that they should have no problem in granting all of our plants access because that is really what we want and is where the real benefit will come from.”
After a three-year trial Australia had its own access for chilled meat exports to China extended earlier this year.
That saw a further 35 processing plants granted new access and took the total number of Australian plants eligible to export chilled meat to China to 47.
A 20,000 tonne annual volume limit for Australian chilled meat exports was also removed.
Ogg said while the Chinese supply chain was used to dealing with fresh meat it was still relatively inexperienced in handling chilled imports.
