NZ red meat exports up 34% in April, hitting $1.21 billion

New Zealand red meat exports soared to $1.21 billion in April, up 34% year-on-year. Photo / Meat Industry Association

New Zealand’s red meat sector continued its strong performance in April with overall exports worth $1.21 billion, according to the Meat Industry Association.

That’s a 34% increase year-on-year, with growth in almost all major markets.

The United States was the largest market for the month with exports worth $344 million, up 39% from last April.

This was followed by China at $253 million, up 9%, the United Kingdom at $81 million, up 56%, the Netherlands with exports of $60 million, up 96%, and Germany at $54 million, up 160%.

Sirma Karapeeva, chief executive of the Meat Industry Association, said the latest export figures reflected the continued strong demand for red meat globally.

She said that, while it was slightly down from the record exports in March this year, it was still significantly higher than last April.

“This is great news for the New Zealand economy, especially for those rural and regional communities across the country that rely on the meat processing and exporting sector,” Karapeeva said.

“For sheepmeat, we’re seeing a continuing recovery in exports to China and strong demand in the EU, which achieved a record value for the region for a single month.”

While the volume of beef exports to the US was 5000 tonnes lower than in March, that was more likely due to normal monthly fluctuations than the impact of the 10% tariff.

“We’re still determining the full impact of the decision to impose a tariff on exports to the US,” Karapeeva said.

The only major market to decline in exports compared to last April was Japan, down 4% to $50 million.

This was due to a drop in beef and beef offal exports.

Sheepmeat

Overall sheepmeat exports in April were 41,843 tonnes worth $517 million, an increase of 13% by volume and 51% by value compared to last April.

The volume of sheepmeat exports to China increased by 6% to 17,461 tonnes, and the value was up 34% to $122 million.

There was an even larger increase to the EU, with the volume up 53% to 8689 tonnes and the value up 93% to $167 million.

The one major market with a small drop in sheepmeat volume was the UK, where exports were down 3% to 4589 tonnes.

However, the value of exports to the UK was up 51% to $64 million.

Sheepmeat exports to the US also increased 11% by volume to 3293 tonnes, with value up 22% to $67 million.

Beef

The volume of overall beef exports was down 3% from last April to 42,421 tonnes, but the value was up 21% to $473 million, largely due to strong demand in North America.

The US was once again the largest market for the month with exports of 18,107 tonnes worth $228 million.

This was a 10% increase by volume and a 38% increase by value compared to last April.

Beef exports to China were down again, 31% by volume to 9763 tonnes and 27% by value to $71 million, but exports to Canada were up 40% by volume to 2865 tonnes and 77% by value to $33 million.

There was a 26% drop in export volumes to Japan, down to 2832 tonnes.

But, with the demand in North America generally keeping prices up, the value of exports to Japan only dropped 5% to $34 million.

Fifth quarter

It was also a good month for fifth quarter exports, with the value of all categories increasing from last April, and overall fifth quarter exports up 29% to $221 million.