Mint days for lamb

DUNEDIN - Lamb has been repositioned into niche markets and prices are continuing to rise.

The chief executive of Meat New Zealand, Neil Taylor, said that further processing and a focus on the top end of the market meant lamb had been differentiated from pork and poultry.

Consumers in the top bracket tended to buy on consistent quality and country of origin, he said, and the outlook for lamb was excellent and sustainable.

The only disappointments were the prices being obtained for wool pelts and offals.

World sheep numbers were falling and New Zealand lamb's greatest competition in the marketplace came from sheep producers of importing countries.

Mr Taylor said the United States' problems were an unfortunate example of might ruling over right, but New Zealand lamb had found a niche from which US producers had been excluded because their lambs were too big.

- NZPA