A radical call for New Zealand lamb imports to be slashed to a fraction of current quotas has come from one of Scotland’s leading farming politicians.
In the week farmers railed against the abundance of southern hemisphere lamb on offer in supermarkets, Martin Kennedy, who farms near Aberfeldy and is vice-president of NFU Scotland, says the time has come to review the UK’s commitment to import up to 115,000 tonnes of New Zealand lamb a year – 50% of the entire tariff-free quota deal currently in place with the EU.
New Zealand has not fulfilled its full quota in recent years because other world markets have proved more lucrative. However Mr Kennedy has estimated that, based on a 19kg carcase, the trade deal allows the equivalent of 6million lambs a year to be exported to the UK.
Mr Kennedy will meet other UK farmers’ unions in London next week where he intends to highlight the issue.
“We take more than any other country. Germany takes 15% of the 230,000 tonne quota, France 9% and the Netherlands 11%. It’s hammering our markets and making us dependant on exporting our lambs out with Scotland,” he said.
“Brexit could provide the opportunity to make serious inroads into New Zealand lamb’s dominance of Scottish chill cabinets.”
Mr Kennedy added that the UK was losing added value from processing the lamb because most sheepmeat is exported as whole carcasses. By contrast New Zealand lamb is all imported as processed cuts.