Pork Remains Among NZ's Most Affordable Meats: Stats NZ
As the cost-of-living crisis continues to put pressure on household grocery budgets, new figures show pork remains one of the most affordable fresh meat options for New Zealand families.
Meat and dairy product manufacturing sales values rose 7.4% (current prices) in December 2019 compared to the year prior.
Meat and dairy boosted the total volume of manufacturing sales to its strongest quarterly rise in six years, Stats NZ said today.
The volume of total manufacturing sales rose 2.7% in the December 2019 quarter, after a flat September 2019 quarter, when adjusted for seasonal effects.
The growth was led by a 7.9% lift in meat and dairy products manufacturing sales, following falls in the two previous quarters.
“This quarter’s rise is the largest increase in total manufacturing sales volumes in six years,” says business statistics manager Geraldine Duoba.
“It coincided with high exports seen for meat and dairy products late in 2019, before the outbreak of coronavirus in China.”
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Manufacturing sales values rise 2.4%
In current prices, sales values for the December 2019 quarter rose 2.4% ($706 million) compared with the September 2019 quarter. Seasonally adjusted total manufacturing sales were worth $29.5 billion in the December quarter.
Meat and dairy product manufacturing sales values rose 7.4% ($649 million), to $9.5 billion in the December quarter.
With price effects included, the unadjusted value of manufacturing sales was $31.7 billion in the December quarter, up $1.2 billion from the December 2018 quarter.
When dairy manager Miriam Lauridsen learned the farm, she was joining held weekly health and safety meetings, she initially thought that was “a bit over the top”. Experiencing that culture changed her mind.
Nominations are open for the 2027 Fonterra Dairy Woman of the Year Award.
Keeping up with pasture moisture demands is likely to be the key challenge for dairy farmers during this season’s El Niño weather pattern, says Blue Skies Weather & Climate Services meteorologist Tony Trewinnard.
Farmers have until the end of this week to help shape DairyNZ’s future focus.
Wayne McNee, chief executive of AgriZeroNZ, has resigned and will leave the organisation on 15 January 2027.
The New Zealand dairy sector set a record in the 2025/26 season, producing more than two billion kilograms of milksolids for the first time.

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