Friday, March 29, 2024

Meat companies forced to divert product

Neal Wallace
Meat companies are changing portion sizes and targeting mid-week meals as they switch products from food service to chilled retail markets.
Reading Time: 2 minutes

Farmers Weekly last week reported the demise of food service markets around the world due to the global covid-19 pandemic forcing meat companies to divert product away from traditional frozen and food service markets.

AgriHQ senior analyst Mel Croad says any increase in chilled meat volumes is welcome.

“Any lift in the volume of chilled product is a win-win for both exporters and producers, but in the current economic climate it may be a hard ask to gain further traction beyond what is already being achieved,” she said.

Sales of chilled product make up about 12% of New Zealand’s annual 780,000 tonne lamb

and beef exports.

Croad says the proportion of chilled lamb exports between October and December last year was about 20% of total lamb exports and the five-year average over those three months is 26%.

The long term average is lower for beef with the proportion of chilled beef at 6% of total beef exports over a 12 month period.

“There is still a significant reliance on frozen which may hamper the ability to push up volumes of chilled exports,” she said.

Croad says making a switch to chilled requires relationships with customers and access to chiller space.

Meat companies say they are responding to growing demand from consumers forced by government lockdowns to cook at home.

Alliance Group sales manager Shane Kingston says to compensate for the lower consumption from the food service sector, it has been working with its partners to place more product into retail and online.

“We have been also re-balancing our portfolio of supply into other markets and changing product specifications so that we have the right products for the various markets,” he said.

“We continue to develop consumer-facing programmes with our global retail customers and have been increasing our chilled volumes because this is what consumers are seeking during the pandemic.”

Consumers want healthy and nutritious quality NZ red meat.

“As with any key trading period, retailers do provide additional chilled space to support a strong programme,” he said.

“Freight availability via sea is continuing in line with normal levels.”

Last year, Silver Fern Farms (SFF) took a major step into retail by supplying red meat retail packs to 14 Fairway Market stores in the US Tri-state area, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

This complemented existing supply arrangements to local butchers and restaurants.

SFF is also working on retail opportunities in the China market.

It recently made its range of retail red meat products available to NZ consumers through a partnership with e-commerce retailer Gourmet Direct.

Group marketing manager Nicola Johnston says the partnership with Gourmet Direct was a natural fit given the growth of online shopping following the covid-19 lockdown.

Orders are filled overnight and Johnston says it also provides the company with market and product information.

Its retail packs will continue to be available through existing retail outlets and come trimmed and in serving portions.

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