June 8, 2026 • 5 mins
Our Shanghai-based correspondent talks about barbecue season, beef quotas into China and the world’s biggest spokeless Ferris Wheel.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
He's our guy in Shanghai, a key we selling red
meat and venison to the Chinese. His name is Hunter McGregor. Hunter.
It's barbecue season in China at the moment, as you
head into your hot summer months. You can even get
a degree in barbecuing from a university.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Yeah, good afternoon, Jamie. Yes you can. There's a university
in Hunan down the south of China, in a small
city of yueh Yung which has about one point three
million population, that's offering degrees in barbecuing over three years.
I'm not too sure what you'll be doing for three years,
(00:39):
reading literature and things like that, but they offer a
one month sort of practical immersion course on how to
do barbecuing over here, and sounds really good.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Well, I'm sure you would get expelled from the university
if you're barbecued like most blogs did, prodding and poking
turning too often.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Eh. Well, you know, in China, most of the barbecuing
here is everything's done on skewers, so you know. And
the famous sort of meat that they do that they
use is lamb, so they have and they're beautiful. You
you have bigger ones and smaller ones. And what they
do is they have a nice lean piece of lamb
(01:20):
or mutton, and then they put a nice fatty piece
beside it, so you've got good flavor throughout. They put
a lot of seasoning all over the thing, and a
lot of places it's very spicy. And in the north
of China they get it right over summer. They have
skewers outside in the hot summer nights with cold beer
(01:41):
and you can't go wrong.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Stop it, Hunter, you're making me hungry. Do they have
Emerson's over there? No, they don't. Anyhow, Let's move from
lamb to beef. If you're watching the beef markets as
we all are around the world, China's new fifty beef
tariff will have an impact. But here's the question for you,
Ander McGregor, have an impact here on us in New Zealand.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Well, that's a million dollar question, and to be honest,
no one really knows. At the moment. It's not going
to have a direct impact on the sale of New
Zealand beef or the only thing it will do will
be positive in China. The real problem is going to
come around Brazil. Brazil has a quota into China, of
just over a million tons each year, and once I
(02:24):
hit that quota, it goes to fifty five percent, and
they're about to hit that this month or next month.
They reckon it will probably be hit this month. So
that's a lot of beef that's got to go somewhere
else because the Brazilian beef comes in here quite cheaply
and fits a good niche at the bottom end of
the market, and you know, so where is it going
to go fifty five percent extra? The Chinese are not
(02:47):
really going to be prepared to pay, So that's going
to have a disruption of the beef and the beef
markets worldwide, and we'll then see how that plays out.
Australia is in a similar problem, but they're sort of
the other end of the market. They are about eighty
percent of the yearly quota so far. They're going to
hit that very soon, so there's going to be a
problem with you and Australia commands the high end side
(03:10):
of the beef equation up here. So it's going to
be interesting to see how things play out, because you know,
when as China moves and the market moves, so will
the market dynamics around the world. And no one really
knows what's going to happen. But this is a new
reality that the beef market plays on.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Yeah, but we're not getting anywhere there correctly if I'm wrong,
a full year zero tear of quota.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Oh no, no, we won't go near. Even if we
sort of more or less double our sales from last year,
we'll probably go We'll probably still sneak under our quota,
so we don't have a problem in the short term.
But yeah, as markets change and things like that, and
you know, the dynamics of the markets change, who knows
what's going to happen in the long term. But this year, no,
we're not going to go close to our quota at all. Actually,
(03:54):
the Australians are lobbying the Chinese government to see if
they can take some of our quota, which I don't
will go down too well.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Lovely little story to finish on. Exciting news for the
Ferris Wheal community. Who knew there was one. I've been
on the London eye. That's very exciting, but it is
a mere blip on the screen compared to this big
new spokeless fairest. Well they're going to build in Shanghai,
are they building this right down by the waterfront by
the buns Are.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
They're not building it right downtown, but they're building it
on the waterfront. What they're doing in Shanghai is they're
expanding the waterfront so to speak, and redeveloping all along
both sides of the river. And this is going to
be in Balshun, which used to be where the old
steel mills and heavy polluting sort of parts of Shanghai
(04:42):
industry was. It's all been cleaned up. It's now a
beautiful part of the city. It's about ten kilometers from
the bun And the spokeless ferris wheel is going to
be two hundred and thirty thirty meters high, so it's
going to be absolutely massive. And if you're into fre
ferris wheels, it will be done in probably six months
(05:03):
or a year's time, so come and check it out.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
So there you go, a spokeless ferris wheel. It'll be
like a big chocolate wheel. By the way, the London
Eye is only one hundred and thirty five meters high,
and the new one in Shanghai is going to be
two hundred and thirty. Hunter McGregor, thanks for your time today.
Enjoy the barbecue season. Remember not to pride and poke
and turn too often.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Oh good cheers, Thanks Jamie,
He's our guy in Shanghai, a key we selling red
meat and venison to the Chinese. His name is Hunter McGregor. Hunter.
It's barbecue season in China at the moment, as you
head into your hot summer months. You can even get
a degree in barbecuing from a university.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Yeah, good afternoon, Jamie. Yes you can. There's a university
in Hunan down the south of China, in a small
city of yueh Yung which has about one point three
million population, that's offering degrees in barbecuing over three years.
I'm not too sure what you'll be doing for three years,
(00:39):
reading literature and things like that, but they offer a
one month sort of practical immersion course on how to
do barbecuing over here, and sounds really good.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Well, I'm sure you would get expelled from the university
if you're barbecued like most blogs did, prodding and poking
turning too often.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Eh. Well, you know, in China, most of the barbecuing
here is everything's done on skewers, so you know. And
the famous sort of meat that they do that they
use is lamb, so they have and they're beautiful. You
you have bigger ones and smaller ones. And what they
do is they have a nice lean piece of lamb
(01:20):
or mutton, and then they put a nice fatty piece
beside it, so you've got good flavor throughout. They put
a lot of seasoning all over the thing, and a
lot of places it's very spicy. And in the north
of China they get it right over summer. They have
skewers outside in the hot summer nights with cold beer
(01:41):
and you can't go wrong.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Stop it, Hunter, you're making me hungry. Do they have
Emerson's over there? No, they don't. Anyhow, Let's move from
lamb to beef. If you're watching the beef markets as
we all are around the world, China's new fifty beef
tariff will have an impact. But here's the question for you,
Ander McGregor, have an impact here on us in New Zealand.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Well, that's a million dollar question, and to be honest,
no one really knows. At the moment. It's not going
to have a direct impact on the sale of New
Zealand beef or the only thing it will do will
be positive in China. The real problem is going to
come around Brazil. Brazil has a quota into China, of
just over a million tons each year, and once I
(02:24):
hit that quota, it goes to fifty five percent, and
they're about to hit that this month or next month.
They reckon it will probably be hit this month. So
that's a lot of beef that's got to go somewhere
else because the Brazilian beef comes in here quite cheaply
and fits a good niche at the bottom end of
the market, and you know, so where is it going
to go fifty five percent extra? The Chinese are not
(02:47):
really going to be prepared to pay, So that's going
to have a disruption of the beef and the beef
markets worldwide, and we'll then see how that plays out.
Australia is in a similar problem, but they're sort of
the other end of the market. They are about eighty
percent of the yearly quota so far. They're going to
hit that very soon, so there's going to be a
problem with you and Australia commands the high end side
(03:10):
of the beef equation up here. So it's going to
be interesting to see how things play out, because you know,
when as China moves and the market moves, so will
the market dynamics around the world. And no one really
knows what's going to happen. But this is a new
reality that the beef market plays on.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Yeah, but we're not getting anywhere there correctly if I'm wrong,
a full year zero tear of quota.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Oh no, no, we won't go near. Even if we
sort of more or less double our sales from last year,
we'll probably go We'll probably still sneak under our quota,
so we don't have a problem in the short term.
But yeah, as markets change and things like that, and
you know, the dynamics of the markets change, who knows
what's going to happen in the long term. But this year, no,
we're not going to go close to our quota at all. Actually,
(03:54):
the Australians are lobbying the Chinese government to see if
they can take some of our quota, which I don't
will go down too well.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Lovely little story to finish on. Exciting news for the
Ferris Wheal community. Who knew there was one. I've been
on the London eye. That's very exciting, but it is
a mere blip on the screen compared to this big
new spokeless fairest. Well they're going to build in Shanghai,
are they building this right down by the waterfront by
the buns Are.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
They're not building it right downtown, but they're building it
on the waterfront. What they're doing in Shanghai is they're
expanding the waterfront so to speak, and redeveloping all along
both sides of the river. And this is going to
be in Balshun, which used to be where the old
steel mills and heavy polluting sort of parts of Shanghai
(04:42):
industry was. It's all been cleaned up. It's now a
beautiful part of the city. It's about ten kilometers from
the bun And the spokeless ferris wheel is going to
be two hundred and thirty thirty meters high, so it's
going to be absolutely massive. And if you're into fre
ferris wheels, it will be done in probably six months
(05:03):
or a year's time, so come and check it out.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
So there you go, a spokeless ferris wheel. It'll be
like a big chocolate wheel. By the way, the London
Eye is only one hundred and thirty five meters high,
and the new one in Shanghai is going to be
two hundred and thirty. Hunter McGregor, thanks for your time today.
Enjoy the barbecue season. Remember not to pride and poke
and turn too often.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Oh good cheers, Thanks Jamie,
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