New Zealand: Livestock and Products Semi-Annual

Following a gradual decline in the national cattle herd over the previous years, breeding cow numbers for beef and dairy are looking to stabilize in 2024. At the end of 2023, a new national coalition government was elected. Prior to the election, the main parties advocated policies to reduce the restrictive pressures on farming operations and push back the pricing of agricultural emissions to 2030. The financial strain on farmers creates the most significant non-climatic challenge in the upcoming year. The livestock sector faces challenges - the narrowing or loss of margins caused by high on-farm inflation, reduced cash flow, and servicing of debt with rising interest rates. FAS/Wellington forecast 2024 beef and veal production will slightly exceed the previous year. The 2023 Market Year closed with New Zealand exporting more beef and veal in one year than ever before, with the second-largest year for production since 2021.