MARKETING UPDATE

There has been a significant swing away from the United States back towards China with the re-establishment of trimming business into China late in December after a lapse of two to three months in this trade. The percentage of Greenlea exports to China has increased by 10% from Q4 2022 into Q1 2023 so far. The USA percentage has dropped by 5%.

The introduction of competition for the base trimming prices has seen values increase across the board for almost all products. A fluctuating exchange rate has frustratingly negated some of these gains, but the overall trend is definitely positive with a looming drop in US domestic production driving strong demand for imported beef.

After almost three years of not being able to nurture our customer relationships with in-market visits, it will be great to get out and about to see our loyal partners. We are starting to receive notifications of several customer visits to New Zealand also, so it will be nice to be able to host them. From those who have visited Greenlea so far it has been great to hear that our product quality and service levels remain superior to our competitors.

Shipping and logistics continue to be a massive challenge for New Zealand exporters, and while it seems that the rest of the world is slowly getting back to more of a normal situation, New Zealand is lagging behind in terms of port functionality and ability to maintain accurate scheduling. At this point there is no solution in sight which will likely keep the cost of freight high for the near future.