Market diversification a risky business

An analysis of the beef trade withIndonesiaillustrates the difficulties associated with diversification away from traditional markets. While alternatives to theUSA,CanadaandNorth Asiaare desirable, for beef as well as offal and co-products which add significant value to the carcase, exporters must be prepared for frustrations caused by volatility in countries where they try to diversify their sales efforts.

Livestock prospects for 2012

Livestock processing volumes have been very low so far this season and the prices being paid to farmers are at historically high levels for both beef and lambs. This has got very little to do with the overseas markets

2011 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

 

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 2,400 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 40 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Meat companies likely to sustain profitability

It’s becoming harder to track meat industry performance with only two companies, Silver Fern Farms andAlliance, reporting annually within two months of the season’s end. ANZCO will continue to report to the Registrar of Companies at the end of March, while AFFCO is no longer required to publish its result. Therefore performance comparison is a matter of studying the available annual reports and gleaning scraps of information from farmer meetings and the grapevine.

More disclosure, but still no explanation of union’s financial reporting

My column about lack of disclosure in the NZ Meat Workers Union accounts two weeks ago has provoked some interesting results, but so far no formal explanation of the union’s statutory financial reporting practice.

Union fees suffer from lack of disclosure

There’s a puzzling discrepancy in the annual accounts published by NZ Meat Workers and Related Trades Union Inc (NZMWU) because they apparently understate by a considerable margin the actual revenue and expenses of the different branches of the union, not to mention the balance sheet items held in each branch.

Processing changes may not mean better capacity alignment

The meat industry will see a number of processing initiatives taking effect over the next 12 months, all of them designed to create greater efficiency for their owners. They may not necessarily lead to better alignment of capacity

Demographics alter consumer demand patterns

Demographic changes will present challenges for the red meat sector in spite of apparently unstoppable world population growth. Several speakers at the Red Meat Sector Conference made reference to the possible effects of these changes over the next 40 years, some of which will be positive, like the growth of the Indian and Chinese middle class, and others negative.

Red Meat Sector Working Together

This week’s joint red meat sector conference in Rotorua was the first time ever farmers and processors have met at their own conference to listen and contribute to discussions on the future of their industry. On the face of it, the conference was a great success – well attended, stimulating presentations, constructive networking.

Land sales horse may have bolted

The recent media conference for political journalists at the Chinese Embassy inWellington, dubbed the ‘green tea offensive’, has raised the stakes in the sensitive issue of overseas investment inNew Zealand, particularly Chinese investment in land.