Over the last 12 months New Zealand’s meat exporters have seen extremely strong markets around the world, which have flowed through to good prices for New Zealand beef and lamb, equalling good returns for both farmers and processors. However, over recent weeks it has become apparent that we are at the precipice of change in market sentiment, which will flow through to how the industry will operate as we look ahead to the balance of 2022 and into 2023.

Rick Walker, ANZCO General Manager – Sales and Marketing

The major economies are experiencing massive pressure in terms inflation, increasing interest rates, and declining asset values, which in turn is leading to decreasing consumer sentiment. This is resulting in customers becoming more resistant to historically high prices and more reluctant to buy the volumes they may have purchased in recent months, as in-market inventories slowly but surely move higher, and the pressure on an already stretched supply chain increases.

ANZCO’s goal has always been to ensure we build a business model that is less susceptible to volatility – which is inherently part of an industry reliant on export markets and commodity products. We do this via three core strategic objectives:

1. Ensuring we have the strongest possible customer relationships and a diverse market mix;
2. Our unique position in the Japanese market, which is where ANZCO’s foundations were built over 30 years ago and where our current owner, Itoham Yonekyu, is located. This provides us with a premium market and strong brand awareness based on long standing relationships;
3. Seeking to diversify our business into added value streams, such as our growing Angel Bay brand, our growing beef jerky business in the North American market, and our innovative healthcare business, where we have invested deep into the value chain.

We have also made significant investment in our systems and technology over recent years, including with TradeWindow ProDoc. Furthermore, ANZCO has invested in upgrading our ERP system, and implemented a new planning tool which has increased our agility to adjust production plans from week-to-week. We have also worked hard to develop a B2B online sales platform that is industry-leading here in New Zealand. Better use of processes and systems means we are far nimbler in our decision-making and able to better foresee short-term challenges and opportunities – all of which allow us to react to market changes quickly, which will be of increasing importance in the coming months.

The Covid—19 pandemic has accelerated the move to leveraging systems such as ProDoc to better engage with our customers around the world and provide our customers with a wider range of possible solutions to their business challenges. We have also seen an increased focus on the safety and quality of the food we supply. This flows through into a growing trend for improved abilities to offer consumers certainty around product provenance and traceability. This is an extremely challenging area for the meat industry given the nature of our products but presents a huge opportunity if we can find ways of objectively being able to talk to customers and consumers about where our product comes from.

Beyond food safety and quality, growing consumer interest in verifiable claims such as hormone free, grass fed, raised without antibiotics, carbon neutral/zero, and regenerative agriculture is a fast-moving space. Although this remains a niche part of specific markets, it is expected to be a long-term trend and one that New Zealand is very well placed to meet.

In summary, we operate in an increasingly volatile world and the meat industry has always been subject to the ups and downs of commodity markets. There are, however, incredible opportunities that exist for our products and how we can find new ways to add value to the fantastic protein that our farmers create. As part of that, ANZCO Foods is committed to leveraging new technologies to ensure that we remain at the forefront of emerging consumer trends and customer needs. Our partnership with TradeWindow has been an important step in that journey.

ANZCO is a dynamic multinational company and one of New Zealand’s largest exporters. With sales of $1.7 billion annually and customers in more than 80 countries, ANZCO Foods is working to bring you nutrition and good health from New Zealand’s finest beef and lamb. 

Rick joined ANZCO Foods in 2017 and is responsible for ANZCO’s sales portfolio of beef, lamb and processed food products via its global sales network, as well as renowned brands such as Angel Bay patties, Maimoa Lamb, grain-finished Ocean Beef and grass-fed Greenstone Creek beef.