New Zealand’s red meat sector achieved sales of $1.1 billion during July, a 26 per cent increase on July 2021, reports the Meat Industry Association (MIA).
China was the top market, with red meat exports worth $460 million. This was up 42 per cent on July last year.
Other major markets were Japan at $58 million, up 36 per cent, the Netherlands at $38 million, up 132 per cent, and the UK at $38 million, up 97 per cent.
However, red meat exports to the US dropped by 22 per cent to $191 million.
MIA chief executive Sirma Karapeeva says strong red meat prices in global markets were continuing to help absorb the impact of continued market volatility and higher costs.
Overall, beef exports fell nine per cent year on year to 44,744 tonnes but were still high for this time of the year as July 2021 was a record month.
Beef export volumes to the US dropped 50 per cent to 9,092 tonnes, due to high levels of US beef production resulting from ongoing drought, higher feed and other input costs.
The value of beef exports for the month saw an increase of 17 per cent from last July to reach $485 million.
The value of beef exports to China increased by 66 per cent to $251 million, although the value of beef exports to the US dropped by 39 per cent to $95 million. Chinese demand for beef continued to be strong, with the volume of exports up 20 per cent from last July to 23,690 tonnes.
Beef export volumes and values also increased to Japan, with 3,241 tonnes, up 37 per cent, worth $36 million, and to Korea up 21 per cent to 2,223 tonnes, worth $21 million.
Meanwhile, sheepmeat exports also saw an increase. A total of 33,533 tonnes of sheepmeat was exported, a 33 per cent increase on last July and the largest volume for the month since 2008.
Karapeeva said the high sheepmeat export volumes were likely due to a catch up in processing in recent months, flowing through into exports.
In the first quarter of the year, there were 1.4 million fewer sheep processed than in the first three months of 2021 but the second quarter saw 738,000 more sheep processed than in the second quarter of last year.
The overall increase in export volume meant there was an increase in sheepmeat volume to most major markets. China was up 24 per cent to 17,874 tonnes, the UK by 98 per cent to 2,703 tonnes, and the Netherlands by 118 per cent to 1,646 tonnes. The US was down by 29 per cent to 1,982 tonnes.
“While the volume of sheepmeat exports to the US was down, the value still increased, reaching a record $23.31 per kilo.
“The value of sheepmeat exports increased to all the major markets in July, with a total of $384 million, an increase of 40 per cent.”
July was also a strong month for co-products. Exports increased 28 per cent compared to last July, to $230 million. There was an increase in the value of all the categories, particularly casings and tripe, up 76 per cent to $50 million.
