Latest / Best of Business / Carl Carrington: NZ King Salmon CEO on what Donald Trump's new tariffs mean for the business

Transcript

Carl Carrington: NZ King Salmon CEO on what Donald Trump's new tariffs mean for the business · Best of Business

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• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Bryan Bridge.
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  Speaker 2: So ten percent, that's the tariff we're going to have
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  Speaker 2: to pay, and that's on our nine billion dollars of
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  Speaker 2: exports to the United States. The Minister says it would
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  Speaker 2: cost our guess on those numbers around nine hundred million
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  Speaker 2: dollars plus. There is the flow on effects from a
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  Speaker 2: potential globalized trade war and what that could mean for
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  Speaker 2: some of our businesses. Ended King Sam and CEO Carl
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  Speaker 2: Carrington's with me tonight.
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  Speaker 3: Hi Carl, how are you? Yeah? Good? Thanks?
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  Speaker 2: Good to have you back on the show. What does
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  Speaker 2: this mean for your business?
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  Speaker 3: Well, to be honest, I don't think it means very much.
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  Speaker 3: We sell most of our volume to the USA through
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  Speaker 3: premium food service, so very high end restaurants and very
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  Speaker 3: high end retail, so I think we have to some
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  Speaker 3: degree some protection as the consumers those channels tend to
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  Speaker 3: have a lot more discretionary spending power. But we're just
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  Speaker 3: working through what it will mean for our customers over
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  Speaker 3: the coming weeks as it's sort of all folds, But
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  Speaker 3: we don't foresee that it's going to have an impact
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  Speaker 3: on our margins in the USA, because after all, this
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  Speaker 3: is really a tax on USA consumers and hopefully they
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  Speaker 3: get some tax relief coming over the hill fairly shortly.
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  Speaker 3: So the US, though, it is forty percent of our business,
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  Speaker 3: so it's about eighty five million million dollars in export revenue,
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  Speaker 3: so you know, will be keeping a close eye on it.
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  Speaker 3: But to the extent there's any reduction in demand, we're
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  Speaker 3: simply going to divert those volumes to other strategic growth markets.
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  Speaker 3: So for US that will mean Australia and China, and
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  Speaker 3: we might be able to do a little bit more
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  Speaker 3: with New Zealand retail partners as well. But we're alert,
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  Speaker 3: but unique i think compared to other New Zealand primary
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  Speaker 3: producers and so far as we don't have a global
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  Speaker 3: demand challenge. Rather we're constrained by supply, so you know,
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  Speaker 3: to be very clear about that, we have a lack
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  Speaker 3: of supply. So any point that falls over the USA,
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  Speaker 3: we'll be able to place elsewhere in pretty short order.
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  Speaker 2: You did sound quite confident. You sound quite calm for
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  Speaker 2: a guy who's got forty percent of his business going
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  Speaker 2: to the States. But as you say, I'm not.
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  Speaker 3: Losing any sleep favorite, but hopefully I'm not being naive
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  Speaker 3: about it.
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  Speaker 2: But the fact it's a premium product that's the key
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  Speaker 2: to this, isn't it. Because if you if you were
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  Speaker 2: selling you know, lineback biscuits into supermarkets, you'd be a
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  Speaker 2: bit more worried.
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  Speaker 3: If I was in that segment, I would be Yeah,
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  Speaker 3: I'd have a different disposition. But you know, thanks, salmon
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  Speaker 3: is really only farmed in New Zealand. There's a little
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  Speaker 3: bit of supply from the USA, but you and I
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  Speaker 3: would eat more salmon than they produce. So it's really
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  Speaker 3: we are protected on that. It is the wagu of
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  Speaker 3: the sea, it's the most premium of the salmon species,
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  Speaker 3: so that does give us a bit of protection.
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  Speaker 2: Really appreciate your time, Carl. Good to have you back
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  Speaker 2: on the show. And let's hope you can get growing
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  Speaker 2: to meet that rising demand soon. Carl Carrington, I know
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  Speaker 2: we've spoken about ways you want to do that. Carl
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  Speaker 2: Carrington ins in King Salmon's CEO. Here on News Talks EDB.
• 3:37
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