In this edition:

Thank you for your feedback and support
Wet weather, flooding and snow
Lamb processing
Alliance Farmers Produce shines in Australia and the UK
Know Your Numbers Workshops
Important update from OSPRI
Beef farmer survey: genetics
Global market update

Thank you for your feedback and support

As the Chief Executive of Alliance Group, the most rewarding part of my job is seeing first hand and hearing about the positive impact our people have on the rural communities we support.

Over the last month, we have met and spoke with a number of shareholders and been reminded of just how important being part of a co-operative is, and how much it means to farmers.

Your ongoing loyalty and commitment to the co-operative, as well as the trust you put in us, is what drives our people to come to work every day and do the best they can for you. As COVID-19 spread across New Zealand, we were able to keep all parts of our business, including our seven plants, operating even though at times we struggled to staff all lines all of the time. Our people stood up in challenging circumstances for famers. Thank you for taking the time to let us know what it means to you – this is very humbling for all of us.

Wet weather, flooding and snow

Our thoughts are with those rural communities affected by the wet weather, flooding and snow across parts of the country this last fortnight. Thank you to farmers who brought stock forward for processing when some hill and back country farmers had to change or cancel bookings due to the road conditions.

There are reports of more wild weather on the way. If you are impacted in any way, please speak with your livestock representative, they are here to help. The Rural Support Trust and Beef + Lamb New Zealand also have information and advice available.

Lamb processing

For a variety of reasons, current lamb processing volumes are behind last season across both islands across the industry, and there remains a large number yet to be processed.

Please consider when you might be able to get your lambs processed. We want to try and avoid potential pressure on capacity by not coinciding with bobby calf volumes peaking in August.

NZ Made with Care

It was a privilege to see our farmers’ produce shine among New Zealand’s finest at the ‘Discover New’ New Zealand Trade Delegation dinner this week.

As part of the ‘NZ Made with Care’ Food & Beverage Campaign, New Zealand-born Amber Doig – Head Chef at ‘The Butler’ in Sydney – has been working with New Zealand Trade and Enterprise to celebrate premium New Zealand brands, including Pure South, Lumina, New Zealand King Salmon and Cloudy Bay clams.

By all accounts, this week’s dinner – presentation and taste – was outstanding.

Made for Chefs

Continuing to ensure we shine around the globe, Matt Owens, our UK Development Chef and our UK-based team also showcased our innovation range, Made for Chefs, by Chefs, at the Taste of Hilton 2022 conference in London this week.

Here, the room of influential chefs was treated to a range of dishes featuring our farmers’ produce including Chermoula spiced lamb shoulder racks, lamb neck wellingtons, lamb pithiviers, lamb bonbons, venison croquettes, and our new Lumina Supreme Shoulder Presse. The event was hosted by Hilton Hotels & Resorts.

Know Your Numbers Workshops

Under He Waka Eke Noa, all farmers need to know their GHG numbers by the end of this year. By the start of 2025, all farmers must have a written plan in place to measure and manage their emissions. If we can achieve this, it will help the industry stay out of the Emissions Trading Scheme and have a system that recognises carbon sequestration on farm and separates the price of methane from the price of carbon.

Next month, Alliance Group is partnering with Beef + Lamb New Zealand to present Greenhouse Gas Calculator and Action Plan workshops across the country. Please visit the B+LNZ website for more information and to register.

Alliance farmer shareholder Leon Black was recently in the news talking about his low methane-emitting rams.

Important update from OSPRI

The eASD system and its app are being retired. From 5pm Sunday 24 July, you’ll need to use MyOSPRI to send electronic farm-to farm and farm-to-meat processor Animal Status Declarations (ASDs) for livestock. You don’t need to do anything right now. When the new system goes live on 24 July, OSPRI will send you a link to get you started.

For more information, visit the OSPRI website. If you have any questions please speak to your Livestock Representative.

Beef farmer survey: genetics

New Zealand beef farmers are being asked for their views on what cattle traits are important to them as part of the Informing New Zealand Beef genetics programme. The Trait Prioritisation Survey will help inform the direction the programme takes in developing the genetic evaluation system for the industry. Supported by Beef + Lamb New Zealand, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and the New Zealand Meat Board, the overall aim of the seven-year INZB programme is to improve profitability and enhance sustainability across the beef industry through the development and adoption of improved genetics. In addition to developing a beef genetic evaluation system to support a sustainable beef farming industry, the programme will also create easy to use tools to enable data to be efficiently collected, managed, analysed and used by farmers to make profitable decisions for their operation.

The survey can be found at: https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/6872592/BLG-Trait-Survey-2022. We encourage you to share the survey with anyone who may be interested in taking part. More information can be found at: www.blnzgenetics.com/informing-nz-beef.

Update from our global markets

Lamb

The rising global inflation continues to put pressure on disposable income with the EU, the UK and North America markets continuing to trade down to lower valued items. The market in China appears to have stabilised after recent price reductions. While inventory levels remain high in China, underlying demand is firm. The market in the Middle East is quiet but coming out of the festive season, we expect demand to improve. The ongoing global supply chain issues remain a concern.

Mutton

Global mutton markets have eased due to COVID-19 issues within China reducing demand. A diversified market portfolio targeting wider Asia, EU and North America remains important to ensure market stability.

Venison

We have concluded our frozen key account business and product shipment is underway. Diversification across a number of markets means a positive outlook as we move into the Game Season. Chilled negotiations for September and October production are well advanced with demand firm in spite of ongoing COVID-19 issues. An improved supply chain is critical if we are to ensure timely chilled arrivals to meet the Game season demand.

Beef

The Chinese market is showing signs of improvement with importer activity greater in the last few weeks and additional volumes contracted at prices close to previous negotiations. As importers move through inventory, prices have slowly stabilised and the wholesale markets are in better shape. Most importers expect to see improvements from the fourth quarter as they build inventory towards Chinese New Year. The US market is unchanged with weak trading conditions and US grinders focusing on lower cost domestic beef while it is available. The domestic processing volumes remain at a high level with this expected to slowly reduce towards the end of the year. Brazil continues to supply significant volumes. NZ and Australia are supplying limited volumes at premiums over the South American suppliers (NZ@37% and Australia@17% of annual quota). Asian market demand remains firm across beef cuts and lean/fatty trimmings. Korea and Japan continue to provide opportunities to move both lean and fatty trimmings at strong values. The long term outlook is for prices and demand to remain steady in China, but demand is soft in the US.

Co-products/Specialty Ingredients & Materials

Demand across the SIM categories remains steady and pricing on bovine hides has now stabilised. Record high pricing remain for tallow and in the biosciences area.