$5m award to exporters hurt by meat quota

By PHILIPPA STEVENSON and NZPA

The Meat Board and Meat Industry Association have lost a $5 million court case over decisions they made on export meat quota in the 1990s.

The two say they will appeal against the decisions of Justice Richard Heron at the Court of Appeal.

The case, heard in the High Court at Wellington, is about the allocation of meat quota to Europe.

During the 1990s, the two organisations operated a body, the Meat Planning Council, which allocated quota on the basis of meat companies' past export volumes. In 1994, the formula was changed from being based on the past year's exports, to an average of the previous three years.

Because of the change, the relatively new exporters Ronnick Commodities and Paramount Export, both now in receivership and liquidation, were disadvantaged by decisions made in 1996 involving the board and the association.

The judge said the companies had been "vibrant and successful" until being "severely affected" by the quota decisions.

Justice Heron awarded $2.2 million to the companies, plus another $3.2 million in damages.