New Zealand meat processors and exporters welcome immigration boost

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The Government's announcement that an additional 500 overseas meat processing workers will be allowed into New Zealand will help ease the sector's chronic labour shortages, the Meat Industry Association says.

Agriculture Minister Damien O'Connor made the announcement today and said it was clear the red meat sector needed access to experienced processing workers "to tackle workforce challenges and preserve vital supply chains".

MIA chief executive Sirma Karapeeva said the industry was short approximately 2000 workers and the situation was being exacerbated by people having to isolate or stay at home to look after family members due to Covid-19.

"There are delays because our plants are not running at capacity and stock is having to wait to be processed. So there are real crunch points," Karapeeva told The Country's Jamie Mackay.

The extra workers announced this morning would "certainly" help alleviate this pressure but it was too early to judge whether it was "too little too late," she said.

"We've got companies that are ready to bring in people. The big question is whether the Government's systems in processing those visa applications will be nimble enough to do it quickly so that these people can come and be in the jobs when we need them right now."

Securing flights to New Zealand could also be a "juggling act" but Karapeeva said companies were already working with recruitment agencies offshore to identify workers and begin the process of bringing them over.

The same question remained, however.

"As I said ... how quickly can the Government process those visas once they're in the system to enable the people to actually come to New Zealand."

The 500 extra visas would help ease the pressure of this season. As for next season, Karapeeva said she had "a slightly more of a positive outlook" due to the Government's Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) which starts in July.

"Under that scheme employers are able to bring in as many workers as they need to fill the vacancies that they have," she said.

"So we're hopeful that that particular scheme will alleviate the ongoing concerns that we have in terms of tapping into that migrant workforce from a number of different countries."

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For now, there was a backlog at New Zealand meat processing companies of about four to eight weeks, Karapeeva said.

"It's just a matter of being transparent about where those delays are and how both processors and farmers can work together to manage ... the impact."