Meat co-op dilemma
Meat processor Alliance Group's cash-strapped farmer shareholders face a dilemma - either pour more money into the co-operative or risk losing 100% ownership and control.
The first shipment from the company's Pure South range will arrive in the Port of Santos on September 15 and will go to 120 stores in Sao Paulo and to diners in restaurants and hotels across the country.
The lamb, sourced from farms across Southland and processed at the company's Lorneville plant near Invercargill, will be distributed by Alliance Group's in-market partner Wessel. The shipment included boneless loins, French racks, bone-in leg, tenderloins and semi-boned shoulder.
Alliance Group is one of the first New Zealand companies to obtain market approval to export to Brazil.
Brazilians consume about 115,000 metric tonnes of sheepmeat every year with 81,000 metric tonnes grown locally and the remainder mainly slaughtered and imported from neighbouring Uruguay.
Grant Cuff, chief executive of Alliance Group, says: "Brazil has the ability to provide Alliance Group with significant returns, given its natural affinity for red meat. With its growing population, and an emerging middle class, Brazil shows great potential for New Zealand lamb. Recent reports suggest Brazil's middle class comprises more than half of the country's population.
"Sao Paulo is also the Southern Hemisphere's largest metropolis with more than 11 million people so this deal represents great news for Alliance Group, its shareholders and the wider New Zealand economy.
"New Zealand lamb offers a point of difference compared to other countries. Alliance Group prides itself on delivering high quality products with exceptional tenderness, juiciness, flavour and taste."
He adds: "The Americas remains an important region for Alliance Group and we are making excellent progress in the market. The Lamb Company already imports frozen and chilled sheepmeat products into North America, in conjunction with other NZ shareholders ANZCO and Silver Fern Farms."
About two thirds of Wessel products go to the food service sector and the remainder to retail. Istvan Wessel, the owner of Wessel, is the author of nine books on food and attracts millions of listeners to his daily radio show.
