Red meat sector reaffirms commitment to China
The next phase of the Taste Pure Nature campaign has been launched in Shanghai, China.
Reeling from two consecutive years of heavy losses, Alliance says it has appointed Craigs Investment Partners to explore external capital-raising options.
Alliance chair Mark Wynne says there’s “encouraging interest” from both international and domestic parties.
“While we are at the very early stages of the process, we’ve seen encouraging interest from both international and domestic parties, but for reasons of commercial sensitivity, we will not comment on specific opportunities,” he says.
“We will be assessing any external opportunities based on strategic fit, value and expected benefits for the company and our shareholders before making any decisions. Ultimately, the final decision will rest with our farmer-shareholders.”
Alliance has posted a loss after tax of $95.8 million for the year ending September 30, 2024. The previous year the co-operative lost $70m. The co-op is also seeking capital from farmer shareholders to strengthen its balance sheet. However, the co-op says it understands the burden of asking farmers to reinvest in difficult circumstances.
Willie Wiese, chief executive of Alliance, said the company worked hard to improve its offering to farmers as part of a programme to rebuild trust and confidence.
“Enhancing the value we deliver to our farmers has been a key focus of our reset this year. We introduced a more equitable livestock pricing schedule, reshaped our loyalty programme and committed over time to bring in a simplified ‘all-in’ processing sheet.”
The company made significant progress on key technology projects, including its Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) programme.
“Our Finished Goods Warehousing project has modernised our inventory management and the order-to-cash process, reduced business risk and increased cash velocity through faster inventory turnover and cash collection.
“We also rolled out our Meat Eating Quality (MEQ) programme across our plant network. Powered by cutting-edge artificial intelligence, this technology measures intramuscular fat (IMF) levels in lamb and marbling percentages in beef, providing real-time data on eating quality.
“This data is offering our farmers valuable insights to inform breeding and feeding programmes, leading to more sustainable livestock management and consistent quantifiable meat quality for our customers.”
Global markets remained exceptionally challenging with prices remaining weaker as consumers continued to keep a tight rein on spending in the face of the cost-of-living crisis, says Wiese.
“Sales value and volume to the Chinese market nearly halved this past financial year. While China had been our largest market, we used this opportunity to develop significant commercial alternatives, making solid progress in establishing more stable and consistent markets outside of China.
“Although global markets remain tough, we saw steady demand growth throughout the year, with prices gradually climbing. Beef has been trading strongly above its five-year average price, driven by the drought in the United States. After two years of downward pressure on pricing, lamb now appears to be coming off the bottom of the price cycle.
“Alliance has become a more agile and leaner company, better positioned to capture greater market value and deliver stronger returns to our farmer-shareholders."
New Zealand milk production is off to a strong start, with the first month of the 2025/26 dairy season recording a whopping 17.8% jump in milk production, compared to the previous season.
With adverse weather set to rain down on the Top of the South, the Bay of Plenty and parts of Northland, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says farmers, foresters, and growers need to prepare for possible challenges.
Keep up with innovation and e-commerce in China or risk losing market share. That was the message delivered at the China Business Summit in Auckland this month.
Meat Industry Association (MIA) independent chair Nathan Guy says getting meat processors involved has been a shot in the arm for the sector's key marketing initiative into China, Taste Pure Nature.
Listed carpet manufacturer, Bremworth is undertaking a $6 million expansion at its Napier plant more than two years after the site was heavily damaged by Cyclone Gabrielle.
Federated Farmers is vowing to keep the big banks accountable for their actions and to continue pushing for meaningful change in the rural lending sector.
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