Wayne Langford: Federated Farmers President on the record red meat exports

Red meat exports are setting records. 

The country's March export sales were $1.26 billion - a new high. 

China's beef demand dropped 35% by volume and value compared to last March, due to their growing imports from South America. 

Fed Farmers President Wayne Langford told Mike Hosking there's still room to expand. 

He says there's work to do for farming marketing and trade teams to get deals across the line with Chinese red meat importers. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
More good news for New Zealand Inc. Is the latest
data around our red meat reminds us yet again what
a debt of gratitude we owe to the farmers. Red
meat exports yet another record one point twenty six billion,
that's March one point twenty six billion in March values
up thirty four percent on last year. The US, the
biggest buyer, is still at four hundred millionish, followed by
China at about two hundred and eighty million. Wayne Langford, as
the Federated Farmer's President, of course, is back with us. Wayne,

(00:21):
very good morning to you.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Yeah, good morning Marte.

Speaker 1 (00:24):
You've got any feel yet for the teriff impact of
there is any on the meat going into America?

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Yeah, I think it's a quietly interesting space. Right. We
expected some troubles and we haven't quite seen that yet.
So well, we're actually seeing it's quite the opposite, where
we're seeing prices rise heading into our winter, which is
something that that's not very common and we haven't seen.

Speaker 1 (00:45):
It of us for yet, so that's exciting. My great
hope was at the top end of the market we
can sell through tariffs. Do you reckon that's possible?

Speaker 2 (00:53):
Yeah, I mean that is that is a good direction
of trailll to go in, right, will we produce a
product that not many other countries in the world produced.
It's different to the red meat around the world. And
as you can imagine, every country probably says we've got
the best red meat in the world. We've not only
got the We've not only got the best red meat,
We've got the red meat that's a little bit different.
It's grass feed, you know, it's raised differently, and it's
very lean, and it's something that complements the American market

(01:16):
very well.

Speaker 1 (01:17):
Yeah, exactly, And do explain that because a lot of
people text me and go, oh, that's a lie. The
crap it just goes into burgers. Americans take burgers seriously
and they chase quality meat. Am I correct in saying that?

Speaker 2 (01:28):
Yeah, even I love gun for American hate their burgers.
I mean the happy ethic burgers. But what they need
is the New Zealand lean meat to maxim was their
meat that's over there. And so right now they are
currently currently buying in that and they're buying strong because
that they need to ensure that they've got the burger
market covered good.

Speaker 1 (01:45):
China, is that a comeback story yet or we still
don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
Oh, I think we've still got some work to do there.
And it's great to have options, right, and that's what
we need to concentrate on. That's what we expect of
our marketing and our trade teams to go out there
and do it. We'll keep producing the beef down here
on farm and they can go out and do their
job and can get it done for us oervices.

Speaker 1 (02:04):
We talked about this on the program yesterday. The stocking
issue cows and sheep and that we don't have as many.
Is de stocking and planting pine trees an issue?

Speaker 2 (02:13):
Oh, it's very much an issue.

Speaker 1 (02:15):
Yeah, so you're looking what the reason I'm asking Obviously
you're selling more than you ever have. Do you need
more land in cows and less land and trees? Oh?

Speaker 2 (02:25):
This is critical and it's critical fear listeners to understand.
What they're doing is they're planting the areas they breed
our sheep. So where for example, our sheep go out
on this extensive hill country and that's the country that
produces all the lambs now on the flat land, that's
that's where the lambs get fat and then they grow
out and they eventually get sold. But we need that
hill country to do our breeding to bitter cows out

(02:49):
on over the winter in different periods, and so when
that gets covered in pine trees, then those animals have
to move down onto the flats which was our land
to finish them on. I mean it's I don't mean
to get technical a better it is very technical because
because this is why we need to tidy it out.
We've got to look after our breeding country so that
we can have a fetling country to.

Speaker 1 (03:07):
Do what we do very well. So'd appreciate it very much.
Wine Langford, president of Federated Farmers. For more from the
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