KEY POINTS:
A taskforce set up by Meat & Wool New Zealand to look at strategies to help the red meat sector has been shut down after resistance from some parts of the industry.
The taskforce was looking to complete a sector strategy focusing on strategic issues around the long-term marketing of product internationally, supplier dynamics and processing issues.
Sheep farmers have faced three years of low returns, while animal numbers have been affected by drought and some people opting to convert to dairy operations.
PricewaterhouseCoopers were appointed to help complete the strategy and had requested information from several industry parties.
However, Meat & Wool NZ said yesterday informed consent was unlikely to have been given by all participants and PwC had withdrawn, leaving the taskforce with no options than to disband.
Meat & Wool NZ chairman Mike Petersen was disappointed. "The taskforce went to great lengths to try and develop a sector strategy looking at the high-level issues that would move the industry forward," he said. "Unfortunately, some meat companies wouldn't provide informed consent to enable PwC to develop the strategy."
A meat industry mega-merger was proposed by meat processor Alliance Group in February but fell over in April due to a failure to reach agreement with Dunedin-based rival co-operative Silver Fern Farms (previously PPCS).
Alliance chairman Owen Poole said the Southland-based co-operative had supported the taskforce review.
"[It] could have acted as the catalyst to get on with our [industry] aggregation but it has failed and that's disappointing," Poole said.
ANZCO Foods chairman Graeme Harrison, who was a member the taskforce, said sooner or later there would be moves to rationalise the industry.
"You can't get away from the fact that you've got an industry, four major players [ANZCO, Affco, Alliance and Silver Fern Farms], all of similar size and there's going to be less livestock so there has to be some rationalisation," he said.
