Food markets of the future
R. Christie
Rangatira Ltd, Wellington, New Zealand
E-Mail:
Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production.
2000, 60: 78-82
Looking from New Zealand at the food markets of the future,
presents our industries with something of a challenge. To those with an
industry background, this may seem an overcautious view. We are not
altogether inexperienced as a food exporter, and can date trading in
food products to well before colonisation. Today, over half New
Zealand’s total merchandise exports are food products, and we can count
most countries of the world as our markets for food products of some
sort or other. So why would meeting these future markets be so
challenging? First, our experience as a food exporter has largely been
with commodities; only recently has New Zealand started to significantly
differentiate and transform its exports into more sophisticated
products. Second, the wealthy consumer markets even of today, are hugely
more complex than they used to be, and consumers’ purchasing decisions
are subject to many new influences, some almost totally unrelated to
food , as such. Third, the control our exporters have over their food
markets value chains is weak, and while this does not preclude us from
participating, our returns are often constrained to f.o.b. margins,
which will provide little more than a modest return on the capital we
have invested in production systems. Last, some significant barriers to
trade remain, in our most important markets. Some would describe these
as intractable; suffice to say, progress in dismantling them has been
painfully slow. All is not lost however. We are increasingly aware of
the demands of future markets and, putting to one side the required
action from our trading partners, we know what we need to do to lift our
performance. Whether we have the will to change some historical
behaviour and adequately re-configure the value chain in New Zealand
remains to be seen; however, some radical surgery will be necessary. Of
the many factors influencing the future shape of our food markets,
technology is surely the most significant. E-commerce, and the
dis-intermediation of our value chains that it is causing, is one
example. The advances in food technology, biotechnology, and the ways in
which we manage production systems are others. We need to understand and
harness all these technologies. Market-related factors include rapidly
changing lifestyles, the growing strength of food safety and animal
welfare interest groups, and the need to be market-ready with
consumer-friendly, fresh products, all year round. New Zealand will need
to do most things differently, and more quickly, to service our future
markets with confidence.
Keywords: NZSAPAB;
Last Updated 12-07-2000
