Dunedin-based meat processor Silver Fern Farms estimates a 10 to 20 percent premium over frozen meat for its chilled beef and lamb being shipped to China. Up until now, all Silver Fern Farms meat has entered the Chinese market in frozen form. However, the company is hoping that the 20ft container holding 13 tonnes of chilled meat will be a successful trial in sending the chilled product to China.
The trial is the result of negotiations between the two governments, as food safety regulations had to be satisfied, and while a small amount of chilled meat has been sent by air, this is the first sea-freight shipment in the six-month pilot trial. While Silver Fern Farms sales general manager Grant Howie acknowledged the risk of sea freight, he said that SFF had to test the supply chain for large amounts of chilled meat at ports.
"The cuts they are taking are important,” he said. They are primarily secondary cuts of prime beef – cuts that would otherwise have been sold frozen at lower prices. They can position these traditional Chinese cuts at a premium in supermarkets."
The meat will mostly end up in high-end supermarkets, but a large portion will end up with food service distributors, servicing restaurants and hotels in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.
