Overall red meat exports reached $937 million in June, up 16% year-on-year, according to the latest analysis from the Meat Industry Association (MIA).
Sheepmeat exports increased by 15% to $345m compared with June 2020, beef exports rose 8% to $411m and co-products by 40% to $181m.
There was also an increase in the value of all categories of co-products, with the largest two categories – prepared meat products and edible offals – increasing by 88% and 30% respectively.
MIA chief executive Sirma Karapeeva says China was once again the largest overall market in June with exports worth $377m, an increase of 37%compared with the same period last year.
“We saw a very significant increase in beef exports to China during June, with a 60% increase year-on-year to $156m,” Karapeeva said.
“China’s domestic pork production continues to be affected by African swine fever, resulting in demand for high volumes of imported meat. New Zealand has also benefited from reduced supply from other major beef exporters such as Australia, which is rebuilding its herd, and Argentina, where the government has imposed restrictions on beef exports.
“Overall, over the past 12 months, New Zealand has exported red meat and co-products worth $9.1b. While this is 3% lower than 2020, it is still historically very high.”
While global meat prices remained high in 2020-21, they were slightly down on the levels seen in 2019-20, and the value of the NZ dollar has also increased against major currencies like the US dollar over the last year.
China was the largest market for the year with a total of $3.6bn, followed by the United States with $1.9bn and the United Kingdom with $419m.
In total, over the past 12 months, NZ has exported 53,946 tonnes of chilled sheepmeat and 352,632t of frozen, and 38,437t of chilled beef and 442,181t of frozen.
