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Nathan Guy: Meat Industry Association Chair on the strong demand for red meat exports · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: So hes some good news for you. It looks like
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  Speaker 1: our red meat industry might have survived despite Trump's tariffs.
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  Speaker 2: For now.
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  Speaker 1: In New Zealand's red meat exports jumped way for this
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  Speaker 1: twenty nine percent in September to seven hundred and thirteen million.
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  Speaker 1: Overall exports for the third quarter hit two point twenty
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  Speaker 1: seven billion. That's up twenty percent on last year. Nathan
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  Speaker 1: guy is the Meat Industry Associations share and joins me. Now,
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  Speaker 1: good morning to here, Nathan.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, good morning.
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  Speaker 1: This is looking pretty good for the full year figures,
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  Speaker 1: isn't it.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, it's fantastic. Yes, it's been a couple of lean
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  Speaker 2: years for our farmers when we look back and they're
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  Speaker 2: really celebrating returns at the moment, and so are our processes.
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  Speaker 2: So there's a lot of optimism right across the primary sect.
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  Speaker 2: They're particularly in the red meat sector. So fighting times
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  Speaker 2: all right.
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  Speaker 1: So we with these figures are surprised you given all
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  Speaker 1: the negative factors that have been influencing.
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  Speaker 2: Well, there's always geopolitical issues and headwinds that exporters have
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  Speaker 2: to face in the US. It's been interesting times, hasn't it.
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  Speaker 2: Because we've seen the Tara ten percent, and everyone thought
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  Speaker 2: that was sort of doomsday. And then fifteen percent, we
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  Speaker 2: also thought, oh gosh, that's going to be really problematic
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  Speaker 2: for our exporters. The reality is the demand's been really strong,
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  Speaker 2: and yes there's been a few arm wrestles at the
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  Speaker 2: border right here with customers who want to force the
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  Speaker 2: fifteen percent back on our processes here and returns for
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  Speaker 2: our processes. Quite often they play a high volume game
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  Speaker 2: and if they can get high returns, then they win.
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  Speaker 2: But at times it's quite lean returns, so they're excited
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  Speaker 2: that they're actually winning at the moment. That's because Ken,
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  Speaker 2: I'm just going to say sorry, that's because the demand
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  Speaker 2: is particularly strong. They've had a couple of very bad
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  Speaker 2: droughts in the US and they're heard rebuild is going
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  Speaker 2: to still take a few years to actually flow through.
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  Speaker 2: So we're very fortunate that we produce high quality red meat.
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  Speaker 2: Consumers love what we do. There's a very strong hamburger
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  Speaker 2: market up there, tree burgers per head per week they consume,
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  Speaker 2: so it's a bit like a staple for us here
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  Speaker 2: in n Z. And then certainly we're filling that market
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  Speaker 2: for US consumers, and we also do high value products
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  Speaker 2: on the both sides of the US as well.
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  Speaker 1: So the the big positives here are the EU up
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  Speaker 1: fifty percent and China up twenty seven percent, and bizarrely,
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  Speaker 1: North America beef exports are down. So what's happening with
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  Speaker 1: the United States.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think we've gone through a period with a
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  Speaker 2: fifteen percent tariff where export has just sat and waited
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  Speaker 2: for a while and wondered what would happen, And then
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  Speaker 2: they realized that there's still huge demand up there in
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  Speaker 2: the US. So that's why the volume numbers have come
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  Speaker 2: back a little bit. But the value still is incredibly high.
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  Speaker 2: And exports always go where the money is. That's their job,
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  Speaker 2: and they can, you know, almost been on a dime,
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  Speaker 2: not quite, but they realize that there's money to be
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  Speaker 2: made in the US. It's great that age is coming
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  Speaker 2: back on stream. China looks like it's having a few
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  Speaker 2: green shoots. Your economies are starting to move, so overall,
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  Speaker 2: very good times for our processes and that's flying through
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  Speaker 2: to farmers as well.
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  Speaker 1: So how sustainable is this? Will it continue or will
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  Speaker 1: finally the tariff's splint.
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  Speaker 2: Well, demand's still looking good. Whether things change in time,
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  Speaker 2: I think it's going to take a few years for
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  Speaker 2: them to rebuild their herd in the US. There is
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  Speaker 2: some pressure there always has been from South American countries,
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  Speaker 2: and we follow the geopolitical stuff very closely. We saw
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  Speaker 2: that President she and President Trump had a reasonable meeting
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  Speaker 2: last week. It's quite a bit of Brazilian brief that's
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  Speaker 2: not going into the US, that's going into China, so
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  Speaker 2: there's all sorts of things at play. We're very pleased
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  Speaker 2: at Prime Minister Luxe and how to face to face
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  Speaker 2: meeting with President Trump that's in a while coming, and
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  Speaker 2: it sounded as it was extremely successful. So we tip
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  Speaker 2: our hat to the Prime Minister and Todd McLay and
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  Speaker 2: the work that they're doing in the trade space.
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  Speaker 1: And I tip my hat to the farmers, Nathan, who
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  Speaker 1: are doing great jobs. And you know, if America grows
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  Speaker 1: and EU and China carries on, this is only good days.
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  Speaker 1: And I thank you so much for your time. That
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  Speaker 1: is Nathan Guy for more fam Early Edition with Ryan Bridge.
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: Listen live to News Talks. It'd be from five am weekdays,
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