Jamie Mackay: The Country host on how NZ beef exporters are handling US tariffs

United States beef prices haven't budged much since the implementation of the 10 percent tariff by President Donald Trump - but Kiwi exporters aren't safe.

A subsequent tumbling in the value of the NZ dollar has pushed up farmgate prices in New Zealand dollars by nearly 5 percent.

The Country's Jamie Mackay explains what this means for Kiwi beef exporters.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Right now. Jamie mckaye, Host of the Country with US.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
Jamie, Hello, Yeah, good afternoon, Ryan.

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Good to have you on. Now, what did you make.
We spoke about this yesterday, the pine forest and the
Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment saying actually they're not that
great in the long run.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
No, But can I first address the elephant in the room.
What's that Granny's knee?

Speaker 1 (00:20):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (00:22):
I was driving back from Timaru yesterday. I was at
the South Island Air event. It was very entertaining show.
Thank you Grannie for your knee. But on a more
serious note, it was just good to catch up from
my point of view over the wall is shoe or
the wall in government buildings issue, and I know you've
covered it off at length, and also the pine trees,
the ets what Simon Upton was saying, and I found

(00:45):
that really interesting.

Speaker 1 (00:46):
Yeah, well, I can update you on Grannie. Actually, Jamie,
I gave her a call last night and she's doing well.
And I said, Grannie, I gave you a shout out
on the radio yesterday and she wasn't listening. So there
you go.

Speaker 2 (00:59):
I reckon, she'll be the hit or the star of
the rest Home.

Speaker 1 (01:02):
Ryan.

Speaker 2 (01:03):
She's a celebrity.

Speaker 1 (01:04):
Now she is, all right, So yeah, the Parietry Comissioner
for the Environment. And you heard yesterday the interview about
the pine forest. What's your take on it, Jamie.

Speaker 2 (01:12):
Well, look, I'm not a fan of carbon farming just
by itself. I'm all for production forestry, and I think
it's good. It's our fourth biggest export industry behind dairy,
red meat and horticulture. But I'm really worried Ryan, and
I know a lot of people don't agree with me,
but I'm really worried that will become the Californian wildfire
capital of the South Pacific in twenty or thirty years

(01:36):
off the back of this poorly managed carbon forests. Because
I don't buy into the argument that all the land,
often good grazing land that's being planted right at the moment,
we might put a stop to it later this year.
Is there for production forestry in the future. I think
there's a bit of spray and walk away here. People
are looking to get the carbon credits, and goodness knows

(01:57):
what happens to these forests, especially if they're not managed
properly over the next twenty or thirty years, Like a
production forest could be and I'm with Simon Upton on
this one. And interestingly, and I know you talked about
this yesterday, but he's saying modeling indicates a glut of
carbon credits is going to hit the New Zealand market

(02:17):
in the twenty thirties, So what do we do. It's
going to exceed the government's ability to auction them off.
He's saying, the simplest way is to phase out forestry
options for pine trees out of the ets in an
orderly way, grandfathering existing credits, i e. Looking after those
who have already invested, but not issuing any more because

(02:39):
I think there'll be a political change in the wind
somewhere down the track and all of a sudden, no
one will want a bar of these carbon credits. It'll
be yesterday's news and we're going to be left with
these carbon forests that are uneconomic, no one cares for them,
and as I said, it may be spray and walk away,
and I think we it's an ecological and biological disaster making.

Speaker 1 (03:01):
Now let's talk about the BF exports, the tariff, the
imposition of the ten percent tariff not really having much
of an effect on the price.

Speaker 2 (03:08):
Well, beef producers in this country or beef exporters are
in a good position. And I was listening to the
guy from Ansco and I've just forgotten his name, Yes,
sales and marketing manager Rick Walker. Sorry Rick forgetting your
name wrong. And he's saying some customers supplying the US

(03:29):
market had been testing the waters and inverted commas with
New Zealand exporters, and this included suggesting renegotiated previously agreed prices.
But what he's saying is the New Zealand BF exporters
are in a strong position. They're not going to be
pushed around by these buyers. We're sure to beef are
in New Zealand. It's not like we're saying we need

(03:50):
six weeks of contracts done because their freezers are full.
It's the complete opposite. The meat companies are in a
bit of a procurement battle. They're chasing that beef, especially
from the farms, and he's saying that the US importers
are just saying, look, well we'll pay the tariff. And interestingly,
I was talking to Andy Ballin, who's the GM of Scales,

(04:13):
one of our biggest horticulture companies. He was in China
when I chatted to him on my show today and
he was talking about exporting juice fruit juice to the US,
and the US buyers were saying, we'll just wear the tariff.
So maybe that happens at ten percent. I'm not sure Ryan,
they'll be saying that at one hundred and twenty five percent.

Speaker 1 (04:34):
No, I don't think they will be. Jamie, Thank you
very much, Jamie Jeers.

Speaker 2 (04:38):
Ryan always good the chat.

Speaker 1 (04:39):
Jamie mckaye hosted the Country for More.

Speaker 2 (04:42):
From Heather Duplessy Allen Drive.

Speaker 1 (04:44):
Listen live to news talks.

Speaker 2 (04:45):
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