Venison marketing likely to increase

Press, 2 May 1984, Page 30

Venison marketing likely to increase

NZPA staff correspondent, David Porter Singapore More emphasis was likely to be placed upon the marketing of vension because of difficulties in selling deer velvet, said the marketing manager for the Christchurch firm, Fort Export, Ltd, Mr Graham Guthrie, in Singapore. And the Singapore Malaysian, and Indonesian markets represented good future outlets for sales of venison, provided the Muslim religious requirements of Halal killing could be met, Mr Guthrie said. Fort Export, the marketing Company for Canterbury Venison, majorityowned by a farmer cooperative has racked up export sales of SNZ2OM for its Fortex brand of lamb. Mr Guthrie was in Singapore to take part in the major regional food trade

fair, Food and Hotel Asia, and to seek new agents, in the Association of SouthEast Asian Nations ASEAN region for its lamb and venison products. “Deer farming is still in its infancy,” he said.

“It is only been going for about 10 years and the attention until now has been focused on by-products such as deer velvet and the sale of animals for breeding purposes.” But because the velvet, prized for its alleged medicinal properties by Asians had encountered some marketing difficulties more attention was being paid to deer meat, he said. Reports from New Zealand's major deer velvet outlet, South Korea, have said fraudulent practices by some middlemen there have affected the market. Deer was new in farming

terms and the velvet and breeding had carried the industry until now, Mr Guthrie said. “It’s only been in the last couple of years that people have really looked at the meat.” But with the “incredible” prices that had been paid for live breeding stock there had been little coming forward for slaughter. Last year only 8000 animals were killed. Canterbury Venison has one of the 10 deer processing plants in New Zealand — a sophisticated $2.5M facility opened near Ashburton in 1982. The company believes venison — high in protein and fat-free — will be of interest to hotels, restaurants, and caterers in the Asia region. “People are looking for new things. It’s certainty got a future here.”