The annual shareholders meetings held by Alliance often give suppliers the first feel of where the market is at, and the prospects for next year, and indications from the executive were all positive.
This company has put a big emphasis on animal efficency through a reward system for improved meat yield, and farmers to progress this by 8% in the last 9 years shows how well they respond to financial incentives.
All animal meat products recieved positive market reviews, but as is always the case, currency fluctuations could dampen the return.
Do farmers still need to push for changes in strategy and structure in the meat industry, or should they just carry on with the staus quo in this period of good prices?
Alliance Group expects world meat markets to remain strong next year, with lamb prices expected to stay at "$100 plus"reports The NZ Herald. Speaking in Oamaru during the company's annual shareholder/supplier meetings, chief executive Grant Cuff said it was expected 2012 prices to shareholders would remain high for lamb, sheep, cattle and deer. Indicative pricing was that lamb would remain at $100 plus and sheep at $85 plus, with cattle prices down slightly.
Sheep and beef numbers were stable worldwide, consumption of meat was increasing and there were growing sales in Asia. In an outlook for next year, Cuff said yield quality contract payments were being increased and simplified, yield grading for cattle was targeted for May at the Mataura plant and there was an increased emphasis on store stock options. Yield grading trials were planned for deer at Makarewa.
In the past five or six years, environmental aspects had kicked in and, most recently, consumers had added another dimension - social, Cuff said. They wanted a "clear conscience" and expected the product to have been "well looked after from the day it was born".Meat yield had increased by 8 per cent since 2002, forage/taste/growth research was entering its fifth year and more than $300 million had been spent on technology and processing facilities, in-market investment and key account development since 2000.
Reviewing the past year, chairman Owen Poole said severe weather devastated lamb numbers across the country, with about 1.6 million fewer available for export. For most farmers, strong in-market prices for sheep meat and co-products largely mitigated the adverse financial impacts. Beef and venison prices were also strong. The prospect for sheep meat, beef and venison was favourable, driven by demand in existing and developing markets against reduced supply around the world.
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