Steady growth seen in value-added NZ food and beverages

17/10/05 New research shows the proportion of value-added food and beverage exports has continued to rise steadily against commodity products, with the value-add sector enjoying growth of nearly 10 per cent in the past five years.

A study by Massey University for New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE) has found that earnings from value-added food and beverage exports grew to $8.11 billion, or 54 percent of all food and food ingredient exports, for the year ended June, 2004.

The earnings from value-added exports in 2004 increased from $7.6 billion in 2003, a rise of 6.7 percent over the 12 months.

The study has been carried out annually since 2000, giving researchers the opportunity to directly compare results. Overall there has been a 53.6 percent increase in revenue from value-added products since 2000 and only a 5.3 percent rise in revenue from commodity exports in the same period.

NZTE Group General Manager - Food and Beverage, Rod MacKenzie, says having more than half of New Zealand's food and beverage exports coming from value-added foods is a sign that the industry is clearly focused on change.

The study breaks down value-added percentages in the main export categories of meat, dairy, fruit and vegetable, beverages, cereals, seafood and miscellaneous and found that the biggest increases in 2004 came from the dairy and meat sectors.

Export revenue earnings in the meat sector rose from $4.30 billion in 2003 to $4.7 billion in 2004, with value-added products accounting for well over half of the increase.

While revenue from dairy products fell overall in the year, the report indicates the sector actually increased exports of value-added products by 20 percent compared with 2003, 'a remarkable response' in a trading climate where commodity revenue continued to decline.

Professor Ray Winger, from the Institute of Food, Nutrition and Human Health at Massey University and project manager for the research, says the results are encouraging.