Good trade news for red meat – let’s hope it happens quickly

The visit by Chinese Premier Li Kequiang has been very positive in several ways for New Zealand’s trade agreements, except for those people who are anti free trade or closer engagement with China (Winston Peters?). After the excitement about the announcement in April last year during the John Key led trade mission, progress on chilled red meat access to China and an upgraded FTA appeared to have gone onto the back burner, until now.

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Global animal protein trends become more complex

At the Red Meat Sector Conference Luke Chandler, General Manager of Rabobank’s Food and Agribusiness Research Advisory group in Australasia, presented an interesting perspective on global protein trends and the increasing complexity required to feed the world’s growing population.

Basmati rice provides fascinating commodity comparison

For some strange reason I recently received a research report from India on the Basmati rice industry. But never having previously thought of the rice industry’s dynamics – financial, production or marketing – I found it fascinating reading. I hope some of my

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.