Red meat sector disappointed by US tariffs
New Zealand's red meat sector says it is disappointed by the United States' decision to impose tariffs on New Zealand exports.
Meat Industry Association chief executive, Sirma Karapeeva, says she hopes that National Lamb Day will now take place every year.
She was one of many industry leaders who attended the BBQ at Parliament recently to commemorate the first export of frozen sheep meat to the UK in 1882.
She says it is exciting to publicly celebrate the success of the industry and to acknowledge the fabulous job that farmers and processors and others in the sector are doing.
Karapeeva says the BBQ at Parliament and all the events that have happened around National Lamb Day were exciting.
"We Kiwis should be a little more forward-leaning and much more proud of what we have achieved," she told Rural News.
"When you look at where we started and where we are today, it's a remarkable achievement. We are quite humble folk, and we just take it for granted and don't necessarily stand for a lot of pomp and ceremony and that stuff," she says.
Karapeeva says what NZ has achieved over the years took a lot of hard work and that needs to be acknowledged. She says the country has moved massively in 40 years from the days of freezing works to highly sophisticated processors.
"No longer do you get those mass carcasses being exported as a very low value commodity. Our processing companies are exporting food to discerning consumers all around the world and that is a huge shift," she says.
Fonterra says the US continues to be an important market for New Zealand dairy and the co-op.
Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says New Zealand's trade interests are best served in a world where trade flows freely.
New Zealand's red meat sector says it is disappointed by the United States' decision to impose tariffs on New Zealand exports.
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