NZ Red Meat Outlook 2026: Growth amid trade uncertainty
While things are looking positive for the red meat sector in 2026, volatility in global trade remains a concern, says the Meat Industry Association (MIA).
New Zealand exported products worth $999.6 million during the month of April, up 16% on April 2021 with the value of overall exports increasing to most major markets.
Sirma Karapeeva, chief executive of MIA, says that while red meat exports continued to achieve good returns, there was some fluctuation in demand, particularly in China and the US.
“The value of overall exports to China was down 6% year on year. There was also a small drop in the volume of both sheepmeat and beef exported. The reduction in sheepmeat was largely due to China, with beef exports to the US also dipping,” Karapeeva says.
She says that while still below pre-pandemic levels, volumes of overall sheepmeat exports to the EU and UK were up compared to the last two years.
“Shipping challenges continue to impact UK chilled exports.”
Despite the drop in volumes, with sheepmeat down by 6% and beef by 4%, the overall value of exports increased to April 2021 with sheepmeat (35,553 tonnes) up 8% to $408m and beef (41,350 tonnes) up 25% to $414m.
The value of overall sheepmeat exports to the UK ($52.3m) was the highest that it has been in April for a number of years.
Karapeeva says this would have been higher if chilled exports were at their normal levels.
April continued the trend of strong beef exports into the other north Asian markets, in particular Korea.
New Zealand has exported a record $131 million worth of beef into Korea during the first four months of the year – compared to $132 million worth exported there during the whole of 2021.
It was also another strong month for co-products, with the value of all categories increasing and the overall value up 14% to $178m.
