Alliance Group takes 10% stake in India trader, QualityNZ

Alliance Group chief executive David Surveyor. Photo / Supplied.

Invercargill-based Alliance Group has acquired 10.4 per cent stake in QualityNZ - a company backed by famous Kiwi cricketers that specialises in doing business in India.

QualityNZ -- whose other shareholders include cricketing greats Sir Richard Hadlee, Stephen Fleming, Daniel Vettori and Brendon McCullum - supplies New Zealand red meat, seafood and wine to India.

"This investment in QualityNZ is consistent with the co-operative's strategy of moving up the value chain and having an in-market presence in key regions," Alliance chief executive David Surveyor said.

India's fast-growing middle and upper classes have a real appetite for New Zealand lamb and grass-fed red meat.

"We are targeting the higher socio-economic category, which is represented by more than 200m people," he said in a statement.

"The investment in QualityNZ will ensure Alliance Group is closer to its customers and can better understand their needs and expectations, said Surveyor.

Alliance Group has been the exclusive supplier of New Zealand red meat to QualityNZ since the company's inception seven years ago with the co-operative's Pure South lamb on the menu at more than 340 five-star hotels and restaurants across 25 cities in India.

Hopes are running high in the trade that India could be the next big thing for New Zealand sheep meat exports if the two countries form closer economic ties.

"My personal view is that India is the next big prize," Tim Ritchie, chief executive of the Meat Industry Association, said in an interview with the Herald last year.

Ritchie said there were parallels between China - which has been a huge plus for New Zealand's meat exports a free trade agreement was signed in 2008 - and India.

In 10 years, China has become the biggest export destination for sheepmeat and beef.