increase font size
SFF chief executive Dean Hamilton.
In the short time Silver Fern Farms (SFF) has so far spent with its soon-to-be joint partner Shanghai Maling, the Chinese firm has begun ordering product made and packaged in NZ for sending shelf-ready to China.
SFF chief executive Dean Hamilton told a recent China Business Summit that Shanghai Maling's investment of $360m in Silver Fern Farms (subject to Overseas Investment Office approval) in return for 50% ownership is a game-changer in a complex market.
"The growing middle class, if they can afford it, will buy imported safe food," he says.
"We aren't about to build a plant in Uruguay or China; they want this product 100% made in NZ. This is a tremendous outcome of this investment in terms of economic development and employment falling into [the NZ] market.
"We're excited that retail-ready [product] packaged in this market will be a significant growth area for us."
Hamilton says Shanghai Maling can bring some real value to the company on several fronts, including access to an inland customer clearance business, which allows them to bypass the port clearance system; and the company knows how to handle chilled product and understands the supply chain.
"Between themselves and Bright they have over 6000 supermarkets. So in trying to get product into a complex part of the end market, there is opportunity to leverage those supermarkets to
put us in a unique position."
"They have a direct-to-home business operating now," Hamilton concluded.
One of the most galling aspects of the tariffs whacked on our farm exports to the US is the fact that, now more than ever, US farmers are being propped up by government welfare – a direct result of Trump’s hardline on its trading partners.
The second event in the Silver Fern Farms ‘Pasture to Plate Roadshow’ landed in Feilding last week, headed by chair and King Country farmer, Anna Nelson, and chief executive Dan Boulton.
China looks set to play a key role in helping the New Zealand wool sector shift away from trading as a commodity supplier.
If you find a new consumer in a developed wine market, you are taking them from someone else, says Blank Canvas co-founder Sophie Parker-Thomson MW.
The large 2025 harvest will exacerbate the wine industry's "lingering" supply from recent vintages, New Zealand Winegrowers Chief Executive Philip Gregan told attendees at Grape Days events around the country in June.
A major feature of the Ashburton A&P Show, to be held on October 31 and November 1, will be the annual trans-Tasman Sheep Dog Trial test match, with the best heading dogs from both sides of the Tasman going head-to-head in two teams of four.
Fewer bobby calves are heading to the works this season, as more dairy farmers recognise the value of rearing calves for beef.
The key to a dairy system that generates high profit with a low emissions intensity is using low footprint feed, says Fonterra program manager on-farm excellence, Louise Cook.
Rural retailer Farmlands has reported a return to profitability, something the co-operative says shows clear progress in the second year of its five-year strategy.
According to a new report, the Safer Rides initiative, which offered farmers heavily discounted crush protection devices (CPDs) for quad bikes, has made a significant impact in raising awareness and action around farm vehicle safety.
OPINION: In the past weeks, much has been said and written about one of New Zealand's greatest prime ministers, James Brendan Bolger, who died just a few months after his 90th birthday.
OPINION: The Greens have taken the high moral ground on the Palestine issue and been leading political agitators in related…
One of the most galling aspects of the tariffs whacked on our farm exports to the US is the fact…
