WELLINGTON: A reduction in the size of the New Zealand sheep flock will lead to a fall in the volume of sheepmeat exported in the coming year, a report from Beef and Lamb New Zealand has shown.
According to its New Season Outlook for 2015-2016, New Zealand lamb exports are expected to reach NZ$2.76 billion (€1.49 billion) in the 2015-2016 season, which is down 4.2% on the year before. For the year ending September 2016, the export lamb slaughter is forecast to decrease by 7.4% to 19.4m head. The volume of lamb meat shipped is also expected to decrease by 6.3%.
This drop is expected due to a smaller lamb crop, which has fell by 1.8m head on the previous year and an increase in the number of hoggets retained within flocks. However, despite the increase in hogget numbers, the national flock continues to contract, with ewe and hogget numbers down by 4.5% and 2.6% respectively in June of 2015 compared to a year earlier.
