Cattle
At June 1999 there were 4.6 million beef cattle in New Zealand - 1.2 cattle for every New Zealander.
There are 17 000 commercial sheep and beef cattle farms in New Zealand, most of which are owned and operated by farming families. The "average" New Zealand sheep and beef farm is 550 hectares, runs 2830 sheep and 230 beef cattle, and has 1.5 labour units including the owner. In an average year it produces 13 900 kg of wool, 1590 lambs, 650 adult sheep and 110 cattle. This statistical average, however, masks the wide range of farm types and systems that vary according to land type, topography, climate, scale and farmer preference. The majority of farms have both sheep and beef cattle, which complement each other in pasture-based grazing systems. Some farms also run deer or have arable crops. This diversification reduces the business risk associated with a single enterprise. All sheep and beef farms are run on low input pasture grazing systems, sometimes supplemented with hay, silage and fodder cropping. This low cost system enables New Zealand farmers to supply high quality pasture-fed meat and wool to world markets at competitive prices.
Meat processing is a strongly competitive industry. It includes 17 processor/exporters,
ten processors who process only for exporters, and 21 major exporters who do not process
meat. There are a number of other companies that process for the local market only, and
several smaller exporters.
Four companies, however, dominate the processing sector, controlling about 80 percent of
output - the AFFCO Group, Alliance Group Ltd, Primary Producers Co-op Society Ltd (PPCS)
and Richmond Ltd Each of these companies have multiple plants and turnovers in the range
of $700m to $950m. Many of the remaining processors are private companies; the next
largest public processing company has a turnover of about $95m.
Beef
Beef exports are still dominated by frozen manufacturing beef exports to North America, but other markets are growing in importance. Asian markets, in particular, are looking for young, tender, grass-fed beef. New Zealand produced 637 000 tonnes, or just over 1% of the world production of beef, in 1995. Almost 80% of this production was exported, representing over 10% of the world trade in beef.
Contact for Enquiries
Web Manager
Pastoral House
25 The Terrace
PO Box 2526, Wellington
Tel: +64 4 894 0100
Fax: +64 4 894 0720
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