Prime Minister John Key's announcement New Zealand will have access to China's chilled meat market caught most by surprise yesterday but industry observers say the deal will be welcome, when it happens.
Mr Key said China and New Zealand had agreed to protocols relating to chilled meat and the first shipments would be only a matter of a month or so away.
The deal is set to add hundreds of millions of dollars in returns from red meat exports. Earlier this year, the Government said it planned to open up the chilled meat market in China, with industry leaders predicting the market could add up to 64% in value to red meat exports.
In 2015, New Zealand exported nearly $1.6 billion worth of red meat products to China, made up of $631 million in sheepmeat and $550 million in beef.
The remainder was made up of products such as offal.
Australia had been selling chilled meat into China, but last year China banned chilled beef from Australia.
In September chilled exports plummeted to 38 million tonnes, down from 1.2 billion tonnes in August.
Chilled beef accounted for 11% of Australia's total beef exports to China last September.
Some customers were expected to switch to frozen, but the ban on chilled would have a negative effect on high-end food-service and retail customers, the Australian Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry said.
Because China remained closed to United States beef, those customers did not have an alternative source of high-quality chilled cuts.
Based on January to August 2015 export data, Australia accounted for 97.5% of China's chilled beef import volume that year.
Beef and Lamb spokesman Ben O'Brien told the Otago Daily Times New Zealand had wanted parity with Australia for "quite a while''.
The news represented a significant breakthrough and would be great for the industry when the chilled meat exports started.
The growing middle class in China had an appetite for chilled beef.
Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy welcomed the breakthrough.
"We've got very strong air links, we've been filling the planes with tourists coming down to New Zealand, coming back there's the opportunity for us to put chilled meat in the back of the plane.''
Earlier this week, Mr Guy signed an agreement with his Chinese counterpart recognising New Zealand's halal standards.
China is New Zealand's number one market for halal certified meat. In the 12 months to September 2015 about 77,672 tonnes of halal-certified meat were exported to China, representing 33% of New Zealand's total halal-certified exports.
Mr O'Brien said halal standards were "open to interpretation'' by various countries.
The signed agreement represented the New Zealand Government's integrity in maintaining halal standards.
Southland meat company Alliance Group on Wednesday signed an agreement with Grand Farm at a ceremony in China.
Alliance Group chief executive David Surveyor said the agreement set out a plan to add value to both businesses.
The programme would include brand development, an exclusive arrangement on all sheepmeat and venison for Alliance's Pure South brand and opportunities to expand and incorporate beef.
The companies planned to create forms and product ranges either produced from source or further processed in the market, such as retail packs and products to meet the growing demands of China's food service sector, he said.
Alliance would launch a range of market-ready co-branded Pure South-Grand Farm lamb products for the retail and food service sectors in China in June.
Silver Fern Farms and Shanghai Maling have signed a 50:50 joint venture, which has Shanghai Maling investing $261 million into the Dunedin-based co-operative.
