The potential of China as a developing red-meat market appears set to satisfy lofty expectations, but the future lies in supplying high-value cuts rather than commodities, as is the case now, an industry executive says.
Silver Fern Farms chief executive Keith Cooper has returned from a trade mission to China and said the future of the market lay in supplying higher-value products for specialty markets.
Silver Fern Farms (SFF) had been exporting meat to China for 13 years and while total New Zealand meat sales were growing, the question was whether exporters could supply the volume demanded by the market or if they should rethink their market development strategies, Mr Cooper said.
A mass migration of people from rural areas to cities was increasing the wealth of Chinese, but it was also reducing the country's ability to produce enough food, forcing the Government to look overseas for alternative supplies.
Meeting China's expectation for healthy, natural and safe products was a given, but the challenge was to understand China's food culture and develop relevant products, Mr Cooper said.
Meat exporters were developing the Chinese market independently after the collapse earlier this year of a sector consortium, which Mr Cooper lamented at the time as "extremely disappointing".
Given China's potential, it was an opportunity companies could not afford to miss.
While there was potential for red meat, it faced competition from pork, fish, offal, turtle, frogs, chicken, including chicken feet, and shellfish, Mr Cooper said.
Consumers were also moving to packed and branded products, which Mr Cooper said would allow SFF to diversify the way it supplied the market.
Mr Cooper said SFF would look for partners in China to support SFF's strategy and also go back to find suppliers willing to join supply agreements to service the market.
