Tight global beef supplies and steady demand for New Zealand beef are expected to support healthy farmgate prices for New Zealand beef producers through to 2025, Rabobank says in a newly-released report.
In the report “Capitalising on tailwinds through to 2025”, Rabobank says the beef industry has performed exceptionally well over recent years.
Beef exports had grown by 94,000 tons or 21% over the past five years and enjoyed a golden run of pricing, according to Rabobank agricultural analyst, Genevieve Steven.
“Growing demand from China has been the key factor that has fueled an increase in New Zealand beef exports. In 2017, China accounted for just 20% of New Zealand beef exports, but since then, we have seen export volumes increase markedly and China is now New Zealand’s largest export market for beef accounting for close to 40% of total exports in 2021.”
The analyst says the outlook for New Zealand exports over coming seasons remains strong, despite the prospect of increased competition from Australia and Brazil.
Also according to the report, global beef production would remain tight through 2025 from the re-building of the United States’ beef cow herd.
But with a number of key challenges facing the industry, the bank says new ideas and strategic investments will be required to find solutions and extract more value from the beef supply chain in New Zealand.