The Country 17/11/25: Nathan Guy talks to Jamie Mackay

The Chair of the Meat Industry Association, and Chair of Apiculture NZ, talks American Tariffs and Asian Hornets. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Nathan Guy, former Minister of Agriculture, Minister for Primary Industries.
I think was this correct title these days? Chair of
the Meat Industry Association, Chair of Apiculture New Zealand. We're
going to talk about American tariffs and Asian hornets, Hey, Nathan.
Is it as simple or is it as simple as
saying we've just made three hundred million dollars over the weekend.

(00:23):
And when I say we the New Zealand meat industry
with the tariffs being dropped on.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Beefy Jamie would be great if it was that simple.
The reality it isn't. The demand has been very strong,
so I think some of the pricing has been built
into that demand. So I'm not sure that we're completely
out of pocket by that much and suddenly we're going
to have a windfall after this announcement on the weekend.

(00:50):
But regardless of that, let's not debate everything down to
the infinite degree. But it is very positive for or
our red meat sector, for our processes and for our farmers.
And we don't know how long this is going to
be the current case, but we I guess we bank

(01:11):
it while we can.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
Well. If Trump he could change his mind literally overnight.
Did this come as a surprise to you and.

Speaker 2 (01:16):
The industry, Yes, as it did the ten to fifteen
percent lift a few months back. We didn't see this coming.
We've always said, Jamie that this was potentially going to
be inflationary and put the prices up. And the moment
Americans have to pay more for their hamburgers, they hate

(01:37):
it and they want someone to blame. So this is
going to provide some relief. But I think if we
keep it all in balance, our exporters have been doing
pretty well in places like the European Union and in
the UK, Southeast Asia, but certainly the States has been
very lucrative over recent times despite the tariff. So this

(01:58):
will give us a little bit of a leg up.
But you know, we're waiting.

Speaker 1 (02:02):
See I can understand why he would get rid of
the tariff on our beef because it's proving hugely unpopular
in the in the wallet of Americans. What's the story
with the Kiwi fruit and is there any hope for
the likes of lamb wine.

Speaker 2 (02:19):
Well, we hope that there will be some reduction in
the tariff for lamb because we know these very wealthy
consumers in the West typically both sides of the states,
the Western the East coast love our lamb and we
hope that we may see some relief there, but that

(02:40):
may take a bit of time to work its way through.

Speaker 1 (02:43):
Okay, there's Trump's tariffs. It's a moving feast, quite literally,
but as you say, Nathan guy, we will bank it
while we can. So that's I want you to take
off your chair of the Meat Industry Association hat put
on the chair of the Apiculture New Zealand one. How
big a deal is this Asian hornet threat.

Speaker 2 (03:07):
It's quite a concern. It's a nasty little bugger and
we've found more than we hoped to find queen populations
in around the North Shore. There of work MPI or
biosecurity d z has. They're now. Court's done a pretty
good job where they've been well engaged with APNZ and

(03:29):
those in the industry. It's about one hundred and twenty
officials working on it. They've got international expertise out of
the Netherlands and also out of the UK, two areas
that have dealt with it. I'm not sure that they've
been able to eradicate it. I think the US at
one point may have eradicated a nasty lugged luck that.

(03:51):
Yeah they legged horned but sorry hornet. But I'm not
sure of the success. So doing what by security end
Z are doing now is the most appropriate thing. Enlarging
the area out the five kilometers, more traps, more surveillance,
and actually the New Zealand public can play a very
important role in this as well with identifying things, taking

(04:13):
pictures and letting officials know what they see.

Speaker 1 (04:15):
A couple will really quickly finished on FDA with India.
Do you think you mate Todd McLay might get this
across the line.

Speaker 2 (04:24):
Oh, I'm sure he will. I met the Commerce Minister
Gooyle with Todd McLay a couple of weeks ago and
rode to a very successful chat and miss mcclay's up
there now. It's sounding positive. We always know that there's
going to be a challenge. I hope we can get

(04:44):
something there. But all signals that I'm getting is it's
going to be very good for the red meat sector,
particularly for sheep meat and lamb.

Speaker 1 (04:54):
Yeah, absolutely be greatful. Lamb. And your season in horror
Fenowa where you're farming, farming, how's it going.

Speaker 2 (05:01):
I'm just going to say we're facing a thirty percent
tariff at the moment and about three percent local taxes
and Aussies on zero, so you can get something similar.
That's a big one. I'm looking at it a mob
of wieners at the moment. They're in good shape, they've
got some on their back, the grass is booming, milk's flowing,
so we're in a sweet spot right now. But as
we know in farming, things can change pretty quickly. Right now,

(05:25):
it's great.

Speaker 1 (05:26):
Good on you, Nathan guy, Thank you very much for
your time Chair of Meat Industry Association and Apiculture New Zealand.