Proceedings of a seminar on Future Directions for New Zealand Lamb Marketing

Abstract

A seminar on lamb marketing was organised to provide a forum for discussion of this important issue, as New Zealand faces significant changes in the lamb marketing environment. The increasing importance of new lamb markets, especially in the Middle East, the importance of the North American market and the increasing fragility of the United Kingdom lamb market, make such discussion very timely. In addition, the market requirement for lambs with a lower fat content has meant that lamb grading standards have been more rigorously set and substantial price schedule penalties have been imposed for over fatness. Increasing production, processing and transportation costs have meant that the farmers share, of the market price for lamb, has fallen. This means that it has become even more important to achieve the maximum possible market return. The achievement of this target must depend on the markets available, the type of marketing activity undertaken in those markets and the structure of the industry supporting the marketing effort. The optimum results may not be available based on the present industry structure and approach and it was therefore considered appropriate that alternatives be reviewed and examined with a view to the future. Includes full text of the papers: Hilgendorf, C. New Zealand lamb marketing: the past and present; Cullwick, T.D.C. The need for a global marketing strategy for lamb and lamb products.