$700,000 study of export meat industry

Press, 5 October 1984, Page 23

$700,000 study of export meat industry

PA Wellington The meat industry is to pay $700,000 for an Australian firm of management consultants to study the exporting industry from farm gate to ship. The study has been commissioned by the Meat Industry Council and will be carried out by the Australian company, Pappeas Carter Evans and Koop. The cost will be evenly split between the Meat Board and meat companies, it has been reported in the “Dominion.” The chairman of the M.1.C., Mr Reid Jackson has agreed that the cost was high but pointed out the high percentage of meat earnings to gross domestic product, that the study would be extremely extensive and he hoped it would be more “directional” than the Booz-Allen Railways report which was also at a high cost.

“We think it is in rather a lot of money, we had in mind a lower figure,” the Meat Board’s public affairs manager, Mr Barrie Saunders, said. “We had considerable dis-

cussion about the cost but in the’ end we decided that if it’s going to be done properly, that’s the sort of sum involved.”

The Freezing Companies Association’s executive director, Mr Peter Blomfield, also considered that the cost involved was justifiable considering the extent of the study and the export dollars the industry brought to New Zealand.

The study is aimed at developing a plan, linked to consumer needs, which will provide efficient development of the red meat export industry from farm gate to shipside. Special consideration will he given to farm production, livestock procurement, primary processing, further processing and transport to ships.

It has a brief to look at farm production to recommend how to match production and processing efficiency and marketing needs and to identify inefficiencies in livestock buying and recommend changes. In primary processing, the consultants have been asked to look at the economic efficiency of existing

plants, the impact and cost effectiveness of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Meat Board, to develop an industry model to make fullest use of efficiency within the plants and industry and recommend a programme to lower costs and improve returns. The M.I.C. hopes to have the report to present to the board and its electoral committee in March next year.