Restaurants the way to America's stomach

New Zealand has a good opportunity to sell more lamb in America, but should target restaurants before supermarkets, North Canterbury farmer Andy Fox says.

Mr Fox, who is chairman of North Canterbury Federated Farmers meat and fibre section, and a director of meat company PPCS, recently returned from six months in North America and Europe on a Nuffield farming scholarship.

He says Americans eat only 500g of lamb a head each year, compared with New Zealanders' 10.4kg a head.

In the United States lamb is considered inferior to beef, and most people do not know how to cook it.

"Some older American consumers were forced to eat mutton during the war, and won't touch it now."

But there is a big potential for New Zealand lamb in the ethnic trade.

The two avenues to expose US consumers to New Zealand lamb are restaurants and supermarkets, he says.

"The logical place to go is food service rather than supermarkets because then people don't have to learn to cook it."

American sheep farmers have strongly opposed Australian and New Zealand lamb imports. The US Government imposed a hefty tariff on imported lamb three years ago, but that was withdrawn after New Zealand and Australia successfully appealed to the World Trade Organisation.

The American sheep industry has shrunk from 60 million animals in 1950 to six million.

"The trouble with American lamb is that they produce huge lambs of about 30kg carcass weight."

As a result, enormous cuts were ending up on supermarket shelves.

"Ranchers are paid per pound, but are detached from markets and processors, and most ranchers don't have any investment in the industry."

A new chain of 1700 restaurants called Outback had New Zealand lamb racks on the menu.

In St Angelo, Texas, sheep farmers were boycotting it.

"Realistically, imports shouldn't have any effect on price, if you think of the volume going in divided by 240 million people," Mr Fox said.

New Zealand's problem supplying would be the July to early October period when lamb numbers were low, he said.

- NZPA