NZ pork producers miss out

Industry organisation NZPork says imported pork enjoys an unfair advantage over locally grown product.

It said while t wo- thirds of pork consumed in New Zealand i s imported, there is no requirement for the products to meet local growing standards.

More than 40,000 tonnes of overseas pork from 22 countries has been imported this year, most from nations allowing farming practices that are banned here.

An NZPork analysis of pork imports from January to October showed the highest volume of imported pork was from the United States, with 7336 tonnes — a 128 per cent increase on 2022.

Canada was the next highest at 6238 tonnes, up from 3,824 tonnes.

Imports from Spain were down, while imports from Australia and the Netherlands increased.

NZPork chief executive Brent Kleiss said pork imports had an unfair advantage over local growers.

“Although the European Union is currently reviewing animal welfare legislation, most EU members and other countries exporting pork to New Zealand have lower standards of pig care and less rigorous enforcement regimes than we do.

“For example, gestation stalls are banned here, but in Canada and most European countries, sows can be confined in gestation stalls for the first four weeks of pregnancy, and in the US they can be confined for their entire pregnancy.

In New Zealand, sows are only housed in farrowing systems when it is time for them to give birth and care for their piglets — with a maximum of five days pre- farrowing and 28 days after.

Most EU countries and the US have no limit on how long a sow can be confined in a farrowing system, either before or after giving birth. Canada allows up to six weeks. Kleiss said there had been a significant decline in pork volumes supplied from large European producers where new and proposed legislation around farming was making it harder to farm pigs.

“These pork imports have been replaced by product from the US and Canada, where they are less stringent [ regarding] environmental and welfare standards.”

Kleiss said the new Government needed to subject imported pork to the same stringent standards that are applied to Kiwi farmers. The pork sector wanted to see Government departments backing Kiwi farmers through their food procurement.