NZ and UK Beef Exports on the Up

Export earnings for New Zealand sheep and beef products totalled NZ$5.8 billion last year – an increase of nine per cent, according to Beef + Lamb New Zealand’s (B+LNZ) Economic Service annual Stock Number Survey.

The survey shows sheep numbers down 2.1 per cent to 31.9 million while the beef herd stayed almost static at 3.9 million (-0.2%) in the year to 30 June 2011, B+LNZ Economic Service Executive Director, Rob Davison said.

In Brazil, the output of poultry, pork and beef for the first six months of this year was up slightly.

The production of the Brazilian agroindustry dropped by 3.3 per cent in the first half of 2011, according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), but this is below that of the same period last year, when there was growth of six per cent.

However, while production was up in the six months, beef exports last month fell.

Higher beef prices, tight supplies, a rising currency and weaker Russian and Middle Eastern markets all contributed to a 19 per cent monthly decline in Brazilian beef exports in July, to 62,767 tonnes.

But exports of fresh/frozen beef and veal from the UK have soared by 31 per cent, according to new figures released by EBLEX.

EBLEX’s new Meat and Livestock UK Yearbook 2011 revealed the volume of UK exports of fresh/frozen beef and veal from the UK leapt from 83,400 tonnes in 2009 to 109,300 tonnes in 2010.

The value to the industry increased from £257.7 million in 2009 to £330.9 million in 2010, up 28.4 per cent, latest figures for the year from HMRC show.