International demand for meat tipped to stay strong

By LIAM DANN


Global demand for beef and lamb is expected to remain strong well into next year.

But the question struggling farmers will be asking is: can the high prices outlast the high dollar?

Beef prices are being driven by the United States market where they hit 10-year highs last month.

The impact of the BSE scare in Canada was still being felt there, said Meat and Wool Innovation executive director Rob Davison.

While exports of Canadian beef under 30 months of age had resumed, live cattle exports had not and were not likely to until about the middle of next year. That was keeping supply tight at time when US consumer demand for beef was starting to rise again.

"There's more eating out," he said.

From a New Zealand perspective US prices tended to have the strongest influence on global returns, he said.

Lamb prices also remain strong, driven by improved processing and marketing by exporters.

New Zealand lamb commands a premium in Britain and with export volumes down following a tough northern spring there is no reason to assume that they will fall in the near future.

"The exchange rate's taken a bit of the gloss off but we're still looking at lamb exports eclipsing the $2 billion mark again this year," Davison said.

Even venison prices - at historic lows since a boom and bust season in 2001 - showed signs of life this month, recording the biggest rise of any individual commodity.

But despite the 10.8 per cent increase in November, venison prices remain 60 per cent below their peak in July 2001.

There was still a lot of confidence in the meat industry, Davison said.

The big problem - weakness in the US dollar - was out of NZ's control, he said.