NZ pigs flying – to Aussie

 “We are not sure how this is going to play out commercially,” Carter told Rural News.

“This thing has been in gestation for four to five years. To get agreements like that doesn’t happen overnight. 

“It is hard to gear up from a commercial aspect until you have an agreement and know what the conditions are likely to be. The Australians are pretty good at protecting their borders as we all know. 

“There are a few conditions in there…. It needs to be cooked [once in Australia] and it needs to have further processing in some form before it is released into the Australian marketplace.

“It is not just a case of sending containerised fresh pork to Australia and it’s out there [in the market]. It all adds complexities to how and when and what the product can end up being.”

It is now up to commercial outfits to pick it up and start creating the market and understanding the Australian market to be able to deliver on the agreement reached, he says.

“As I say the Australians are very good at protecting their border. Obviously they produce more pig meat than we do… so it’s commercially not easy to get into.

“There certainly is some interest from our larger processors.”

The Australians haven’t been shy in sending pork to us for many years, Carter points out.

Until now pork exported to Australia has had to be processed into bacon or ham or pH treated. NZ product will require some treatment, whether it be cooked or processed into bacon or ham or similar, he says. 

“We are also aware there are a lot of NZers who live in Australia, which has a country-of-origin labelling requirement; so there’s an opportunity to get a NZ branded product in. If some loyalties and aspirations cause some NZers in Australia to choose to eat NZ produced pork then there may be the opportunity for them to access it.”

He’d like to think that gaining access is a tribute to some of the work NZ Pork has done in animal welfare, such as the PigCare programme.

“We all know these things take time and... it is little steps to get the big step,” says Carter.

Carter says the NZ industry appreciates the efforts MPI has made to get this agreement across the line with the Australians.