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The Alliance Group is investigating using South American lamb to fill orders it cannot meet from New Zealand.
Chief executive Grant Cuff said with sheep numbers declining around the world, the Invercargill co-operative was looking at supplying North American and European markets with South American lamb.
Alliance considered a similar possibility about a decade ago, but Cuff said the situation had changed.
At the time South American lambs were lighter in weight, there were insufficient numbers and issues with disease and traceability.
South American farmers had improved the quality of lambs and addressed the disease and animal traceability issues which, together with falling sheep numbers, had encouraged Alliance to revisit the idea.
"New Zealand has looked at it before. It is all a matter of timing and priorities and we think the moment is right to have another look."
Cuff said Alliance was still to decide if the lamb would be sold under its own brands, but initially that was unlikely.
He would not say which countries Alliance was looking at but said two or three had European Union sheep meat quota, some of which had not been used. Alliance's proposal was similar to Fonterra, which sourced dairy products from foreign producers to fill its supply shortages.
With shrinking sheep numbers in New Zealand and Australia, sourcing stock was an issue for all meat processors. New Zealand sheep numbers have fallen to a 50-year low with this year's lamb kill expected to be six million fewer than last year due to drought and land use change.
Cuff said New Zealand companies had previously worked with their Australian partners in the Australia New Zealand Lamb Company to fill any void, but the Australian flock had shrunk to its smallest size since 1920.
Meat and Livestock Australia said that drought and the shift to cropping had seen the flock fall to 80 million this year, with forecasts it could fall to 76 million by 2011.
- OTAGO DAILY TIMES
