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Rob Hewett, chair of Silver Fern Farms.
Claims that Silver Fern Farms approached the Government for funding and/or sought a meeting with Finance Minister Bill English for over a year have been debunked by the co-op's chair Rob Hewett.
When asked by Rural News about the validity of the claims Hewett had a blunt two word answer: "That's bullshit."
This rebuttal came late last month in a sit-down with Rural News – with both Hewett and Shanghai Maling president Wei Ping Shen – to discuss the proposed merger of the two companies, at Silver Fern Farms' head office in Dunedin.
In a wide-ranging interview, Hewett and Shen also dismissed claims of a possible procurement war if the deal went ahead.
Critics of the proposed deal claim the newly cashed-up company will burn off competitor meat companies offering over-the-top prices, which will leave SFF as the 'last man standing'. This, critics believe, will see red meat producers in NZ totally dependent on the company and risk low livestock prices in the future.
"We have no desire to start a procurement war," Hewett says. "We have seen enough procurement wars in the past; it erodes value and is not sustainable." He says such assertions are "a simplistic and stupid argument".
Hewett believes if the deal with Shanghai Maling is sealed (SFF shareholders will vote on this on October 16 at a special meeting) the logic of the new company's strategy will see farmers getting better prices, not a procurement war.
"We want to pay farmers more, but that will be earned through the implementation of our strategy and the synergies we will make through our alignment with Shanghai Maling."
Meanwhile, Shen says his company chose SFF for its first foray into the beef and lamb sector outside of China because of the "booming demand" for the products in his country, especially by the younger generation.
"SFF's brands are the strongest in the Chinese red meat market and with Shanghai Maling's reach of 1000 supermarkets in the country and our parent company Bright Foods' 60,000 outlets there is no better investment for SFF shareholders than this one," he said.
Shen also believes there is potential for more jobs to be created from the joint venture than the company's current 7000.
One of the country's leading experts on China has praised the NZ Government for its handling of the recent incident with China over that country's cyber attack on two of our parliamentary institutions in 2021.
Hopes of NZ sheepmeat prices picking up anytime soon in the country's key export market of China looks highly unlikely.
Zespri has unveiled the award-winning KiwiBrothersTM mascots in China for the first time to market its large kiwifruit crop.
Authorities in China have clamped down on companies in that country which have been packaging and selling their own local fruit under the Zespri brand.
Meat processor and exporter Silver Fern Farms Ltd has joined fellow South Island-based meat company Alliance Group in reporting a big loss for the past year.
A vet is calling for all animals to be vaccinated against a new strain of leptospirosis (lepto) discovered on New Zealand dairy farms in recent years.
Two major red meat sector projects are getting up to a combined $1.7 million in funding from the New Zealand Meat Board (NZMB).
Angus Barr and Tara Dwyer of The Wandle, Lone Star Farms in Strath Taieri have been named the Regional Supreme Winners at the Otago Ballance Farm Environment Awards in Dunedin.
OPINION: The distress that the politicians and bureaucrats are causing to the people of Wairoa and the wider Tairāwhiti is unforgivable.
Dairy
Rural banker Rabobank is partnering with Food Rescue Kitchen on a new TV series which airs this weekend that aims to shine a light on the real and growing issues of food waste, food poverty and social isolation in New Zealand.
