One tenth of NZ beef exports end up on McDonald's world menu

One tenth of NZ's beef exports end up on MacDonald's menu. Photo / 123RF

One tenth of New Zealand's beef exports went to McDonald's restaurants globally in 2017, Beef and Lamb NZ said.

That year, the company bought 5.5 million kg for the local market and exported 33 million kg to McDonald's restaurants globally, representing 10 per cent of New Zealand's total beef exports, the farmer-funded organisation said.

McDonalds said that since their launch in 2009, Kiwis had chowed down on 5.5 million kg of its locally sourced Angus beef patties - the same weight as nine Airbus A380s aircraft.

"The burgers on offer have changed with customer tastes over the years, but Angus beef has proved consistently popular, with orders of the beef rising by nearly 24 per cent in one year (2016 to 2017) and over 700,000 kg of New Zealand Angus beef used in 2017 alone," McDonald's said in a statement.

Dave Howse, McDonald's New Zealand managing director, said the company had played a pivotal role in making Angus beef accessible to Kiwis.

"Prior to that, Angus beef wasn't that well known with Kiwis, and we also provided a new, consistent market for farmers in New Zealand," he said.

The beef industry is the only to benefit from McDonald's enormous demand for fresh produce.

New Zealand also exported 8.69 million kg of cheese, 30,000 kg of potatoes, 93,000 kg of chicken products and 1.17 million kg of fish products to McDonald's restaurants around the world.