Latest / Best of Business / Jamie Mackay: The Country host on the US launching safeguard investigation into NZ lamb imports

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Jamie Mackay: The Country host on the US launching safeguard investigation into NZ lamb imports · Best of Business

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from Newstalk ZEDB. Follow this
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• 0:17
  Speaker 2: Hello, Jamie Cat, I hear that not a great day
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  Speaker 2: to be a ship farmer. No, well, it hasn't been
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  Speaker 2: a great week in some ways to be a farmer.
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  Speaker 2: Earlier in the week, and I think we talked about
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  Speaker 2: this one on Tuesday night, Fonterra dropped its forecast milk
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  Speaker 2: price by fifty cents. Well, today it's the turn for
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  Speaker 2: the sheep farmer's. Strong wall market, which has made great
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  Speaker 2: recovery in the past six months or so, took a
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  Speaker 2: bit of a slide today. And when I say a slide,
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  Speaker 2: it was a reasonable one. Strong will indicated down sixty
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  Speaker 2: two cents. That's nearly ten percent and only sixty two
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  Speaker 2: percent sold, so that means thirty eight percent was passed.
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  Speaker 2: And now the wall market experienced, as I said, very
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  Speaker 2: strong markets, especially during May and June. It was hoped
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  Speaker 2: that there would be a leveling of prices following those
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  Speaker 2: strong gains, but no, the market slumped quite a bit today.
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  Speaker 2: Most European mills are closed for the summer holidays. It's
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  Speaker 2: that hot over there. They probably don't want to sit
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  Speaker 2: around on a computer and buy wool in New Zealand.
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  Speaker 2: As for China and India, they appear to be taking
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  Speaker 2: a wait and see approach. The speed and volatilility of
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  Speaker 2: these price movements is creating a bit of a challenge,
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  Speaker 2: not surprisingly for war growers, brokers and exporters. And that
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  Speaker 2: is quoting the PGG rights and report hot off the
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  Speaker 2: press tonight. So hopefully it's a glitch in the market,
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  Speaker 2: because honestly that's been an achilles hill for farming and
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  Speaker 2: for sheep farmers, the fact that strong wool, especially we
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  Speaker 2: go back to COVID times it was worth nothing, absolutely nothing,
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  Speaker 2: and farmers were having to pay quite a bit more
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  Speaker 2: to get it off than what they could to sell it.
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  Speaker 2: It's gone up markedly, so, as I said, hopefully this
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  Speaker 2: is just a glitch.
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  Speaker 1: So what's the situation with LAMB in the US.
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  Speaker 2: Here, Well, there's another bad news story, I guess for
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  Speaker 2: sheep farmers. Meat industry leaders, namely Beef and let New
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  Speaker 2: Zealand and the Meat Industry Association are disappointed that the
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  Speaker 2: US has decided to initiate a safeguards investigation into LAMB
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  Speaker 2: imports from Australia and New Zealand. We're not alone in
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  Speaker 2: this one. The investigation is going to be carried out
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  Speaker 2: by the US's International Trade Commission. It's expected to take
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  Speaker 2: up to six months. It will determine whether imports ie
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  Speaker 2: from New Zealand and Australia are causing or threatening to
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  Speaker 2: cause serious industry injuries. Should I say to the US
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  Speaker 2: lamb industry any decision to restrict imports could include tariffs
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  Speaker 2: that dirty word or quota limits. And it sits, And
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  Speaker 2: this is even more of a worry in the hands
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  Speaker 2: of the US President. New Zealand lamb, of course, currently
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  Speaker 2: faces a ten percent tariff in the US. Now the
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  Speaker 2: US is saying we're undercutting them in the market. They're
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  Speaker 2: saying between twenty twenty and twenty twenty four imports surged
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  Speaker 2: by forty five percent. They now account for seventy percent
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  Speaker 2: of the US market. But beef and lamb New Zealand
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  Speaker 2: and the Meat Industry Association, in a joint statement, said
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  Speaker 2: that's bollocks. The average selling price in the US for
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  Speaker 2: New Zealand lamb is twenty two bucks aquilo. That compares
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  Speaker 2: to the industry's global average of fourteen dollars Aquilo. Look,
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  Speaker 2: the sheep meat industry in the US is very small.
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  Speaker 2: It's a very minor player. This is just an excuse
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  Speaker 2: for Trump to chuck another tariff on US.
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  Speaker 1: Oh geez, he loves it a Jamie, thanks very much mate.
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  Speaker 1: We'll talk to you next week. Enjoy your weekend.
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  Speaker 2: That is Jamie McKay.
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  Speaker 1: A weekend starts for him today, obviously, Jamie McKay, Host
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  Speaker 1: of the Country. For more from News Talks, edb listen
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