France ends its ban on venison in summer

By LIAM DANN primary industries editor

One of the more bizarre trade barriers faced by New Zealand exporters is no more.

The French Government has repealed a longstanding law banning the sale of venison during the spring and summer months.

The law - which decreed that venison was a game meat and could be sold only during the hunting season - has limited New Zealand's ability to cash in on the lucrative French market.

New Zealand already exports nearly $9 million worth of venison to France between the months of October and January each year.

The news provides deer farmers with a much-needed boost. The industry has struggled in recent years with low commodity prices and the rising dollar.

Deer Industry chief executive M. J. Loza said it was a fantastic opportunity but would not provide a silver bullet for the industry.

There was still a lot of work to be done to overcome the strong cultural perception that venison was a winter meat, he said.

New Zealand exporters now hoped to work with French deer farmers to change venison's image in France.

Marketing efforts are already underway in Germany where the same kind of cultural perceptions had not been enforced by law. The French law was not originally intended as a piece of culinary fascism.

"The French tried to justify it as a pro-conservation measure," Loza said.

The theory was that if venison sales were allowed year round it would provide poachers with the opportunity to sell their game out of season.

Loza was not sure when the law had been introduced but it had always affected our exports.