Tuesday, 16 July 2019 09:55

Brexit and NZ's meat industry

Written by  Peter Burke
NZ meat industry’s special envoy on Brexit, Jeff Grant. NZ meat industry’s special envoy on Brexit, Jeff Grant.

If Britain crashes out of the EU at the end of October it will be unlikely to seriously affect the New Zealand meat industry.

That’s the view of the NZ meat industry’s special envoy on Brexit, Jeff Grant.

He told Rural News that October/November is not a critical time of the year for our meat industry. But he concedes it may cause some difficulty with chilled and early spring lamb. 

Grant says a greater risk existed earlier this year when the leave date was March 31. This would have affected Easter lamb sales, he says.

“October 31 doesn’t create so much difficulty,” Grant says. “But it is continually delaying the possibility of a NZ free trade agreement (FTA) with the UK, and that is the big frustration.” 

Grant says it is now almost impossible to predict what might happen with Brexit. 

He believes much of Boris Johnson’s talk is just electioneering. He questions whether Johnson can get the numbers in the British Parliament, or has time before the summer break, to endorse his threat to leave the EU without a deal. 

Grant says the problem has to be solved solely by the EU and the UK and the EU has said it will act in Ireland’s best interest.

He says another extension to Britain’s leave date is possible.

More like this

Food insecurity

OPINION: Good on the UK'S NFU for battling to get supermarkets to prioritise local farmers' produce.

Buy local?

OPINION: Seven of the UK's major supermarket chains have now responded to the call for them to back the nation's farmers by adding 'buy British' tabs to their websites.

Leaving on a jet plane - again!

Damien O'Connor is planning to head back to Europe again shortly to breathe oxygen into the free trade agreements that New Zealand is negotiating separately with the UK and the EU.

Still waiting

British and New Zealand trade negotiators are burning the midnight oil in a bid to get a free trade agreement between the two countries.

Unlikely to get all our way with FTAs

A hint from recent trade talks suggests that New Zealand may not get everything it wants in its free trade negotiations with the European Union and Britain.

Featured

Big return on a small investment

Managing director of Woolover Ltd, David Brown, has put a lot of effort into verifying what seems intuitive, that keeping newborn stock's core temperature stable pays dividends by helping them realise their full genetic potential.

Editorial: Sensible move

OPINION: The Government's decision to rule out changes to Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) that would cost every farmer thousands of dollars annually, is sensible.

National

Machinery & Products

» Latest Print Issues Online

The Hound

Overbearing?

OPINION: Dust ups between rural media and PR types aren't unheard of but also aren't common, given part of the…

Foot-in-mouth

OPINION: The Hound hears from his canine pals in Southland that an individual's derogatory remarks on social media have left…

» Connect with Rural News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter