New Zealand red meat exporters boost use of quotas

New Zealand’s red meat exporters are making increasing use of quotas managed by the New Zealand Meat Board (NZMB) in an increasingly volatile global trade environment.

At the NZMB’s annual meeting in Wellington, NZMB chief executive Nick Beeby said that quota utilisation increased throughout 2024 and has started strongly in 2025.

“This growing use of quotas highlights the importance of maintaining New Zealand’s market access conditions in the face of global trade volatility.

“The flexibility to access different markets is a significant advantage for our sector. The quotas we administer cover $3.75 billion in exports to the European Union, United Kingdom and the United States, delivering tariff savings of $899 million in 2024.”

NZMB operates as a statutory body with two core functions -- managing quotas and overseeing a substantial reserve fund for sheep and beef farmers.

This fund acts as a contingency to support market re-entry in the event of disruptions, such as a disease outbreak. Revenue from the fund also supports quota management and industry-good projects.

Despite global economic uncertainty, the reserve fund had grown to $86.6 million, achieving a 12.6 per cent annual return after fees, tax, and inflation.

This strong performance was driven largely by gains in US equity markets, particularly in the technology sector.

“Our primary investment goal is to protect and enhance the real value of these reserves while carefully balancing risk to maximise returns,” said Mr Beeby.

The board manages 10 country-specific quotas, including longstanding World Trade Organization (WTO) quotas and new Free Trade Agreement (FTA) allocations for beef, sheepmeat, and goatmeat.

NZMB chair Kate Acland said the three new EU FTA quotas were successfully introduced in May 2024.

“There has been interest in the additional beef access under the new EU FTA quota, complementing existing high-quality beef allocations.

“Since May, approximately 1,300 tonnes of beef have entered under this new quota, saving exporters NZD $9.9 million in tariffs.”

The board also conducted a review of its European operations and has initiated a business resilience and process efficiency review, supported by key stakeholders, including meat exporters.

“The rapid expansion of our responsibilities -- adding seven new quotas in just five years -- has increased the complexity of quota administration,” said Ms Acland.

“It’s now time to assess our systems and processes to ensure we’re operating as effectively as possible.”

Decisions on allocating reserve fund income to industry-good projects are made in consultation with sheep and beef farmers.

Over the past year, the NZMB has supported two significant initiatives, the Informing New Zealand Beef (INZB) genetics project and the Eliminating Facial Eczema Impacts (EFEI) programme.

The NZMB Annual Meeting was held on Wednesday February 19.