Wednesday, 27 April 2022 06:55

When will they come?

Written by  Peter Burke
The Meat Industry Association says the extra 500 overseas workers will help but there are about 2,000 vacancies currently in the meat industry around NZ. The Meat Industry Association says the extra 500 overseas workers will help but there are about 2,000 vacancies currently in the meat industry around NZ.

An extra 500 workers will certainly help but only if they get here in time.

So says Meat Industry Association chief executive Sirma Karapeeva following the Government's recent decision to allow an additional 500 migrant workers into NZ to work in the meat industry.

Karapeeva says it is great that the Government is actually acknowledging that there is a "real and chronic" labour shortage facing the meat industry and the extra workers will help to alleviate the pressure. But she told Rural News that a question mark hangs over the ability of Immigration NZ to process those visas quickly enough to get them working in NZ within the next month or so.

Karapeeva says there is a lot of pre-application work required, such as the migrants obtaining medical clearances and other checks.

"If a NZ company is working with a good recruiter overseas, that can be streamlined. The question is, once Immigration NZ receives the application, how quickly can they process that application to give the particular person the green light to come to NZ and start work?"

She says past experience suggests that the immigration system is "groaning" and has been for a very long time.

Karapeeva believes this raises the question about whether Immigration NZ will be able to cope with the huge number of applications. She says most of the migrant workers have some skills and will receive additional training when they arrive, and on the job, so there shouldn't be a huge time lag in upskilling these people.

It is estimated there are about 2,000 vacancies in the meat industry around NZ.

"Despite this labour shortage, the processing plants are doing everything they can to operate under such tight conditions, including extending and putting on new shifts," Karapeeva told Rural News.

"But they don't have enough people and that means that the carcass is not fully processed and that means that some value is lost."

She adds that given the current labour shortage, many companies are making hard decisions about whether to drop some of their further processing.

Karapeeva says the advantage of having migrant workers means there is a greater likelihood of having a killing chain operating at full capacity. She says that helps protect all jobs.

More like this

Editorial: NZ's great China move

OPINION: The New Zealand red meat sector, with support from the Government, has upped the ante to retain and expand its niche in the valuable Chinese market - and the signs are looking positive.

Red meat's China push

The red meat sector is launching a new campaign to lure Chinese consumers to New Zealand grass-fed beef and lamb.

Primary sector chuffed

Meat Industry Association chair Nathan Guy says his organisation welcomes the new trade deal with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), noting the UAE is the second largest market for the red meat sector in the Gulf Cooperation Council after Saudi Arabia.

Featured

Massey Research Field Day attracts huge interest

More than 200 people turned out on Thursday, November 21 to see what progress has been made on one of NZ's biggest and most comprehensive agriculture research programmes on regenerative agriculture.

Expo set to wow again

Stellar speakers, top-notch trade sites, innovation, technology and connections are all on offer at the 2025 East Coast Farming Expo being once again hosted in Wairoa in February.

A year of global challenges

As a guest of the Italian Trade Association, Rural News Group Machinery Editor Mark Daniel took the opportunity to make an early November dash to Bologna to the 46th EIMA exhibition.

National

Winter grazing warning

Every time people from overseas see photographs of cows up to their hocks in mud it's bad for New Zealand.

ANZ defends farm lending rates

The country's largest lender to the agriculture sector says it's not favouring home loans over farm and business lending.

Machinery & Products

Expo set to wow again

Stellar speakers, top-notch trade sites, innovation, technology and connections are all on offer at the 2025 East Coast Farming Expo…

A year of global challenges

As a guest of the Italian Trade Association, Rural News Group Machinery Editor Mark Daniel took the opportunity to make…

» Latest Print Issues Online

The Hound

Review SOEs!

OPINION: NIWA has long weathered complaints about alleged stifling of competition in forecasting, and more recently, claims of lack of…

Bank reset

OPINION: Adding to calls to get banks to 'back off', NZ Agri Brokers director Andrew Laming has revealed that the…

» Connect with Rural News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter