Exports to the Gulf halted, for now<\/p>\n
But its agility was being tested by war in the Gulf, as for other primary sector exporters.<\/p>\n
About 12% of Silver Fern Farm\u2019s lamb and up to 5% of its beef went into Gulf states, which it entered via the embattled Strait of Hormuz, into key markets, including the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n
When the conflict broke out in late February, it had 140 containers in transit, destined for the Middle East.<\/p>\n
Silver Fern Farms chief executive Dan Boulton said most containers were able to be moved through other ports, though some still awaited documentation requirements on-port. It diverted some product to other markets entirely.<\/p>\n
He said it has paused production into the Middle East until it had clarity.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs soon as the conflict started and we knew we were having issues, we made that decision to halt all production until we had transparency around what our options are.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll slowly resume production once we get certainty around supply chains back into that sector.\u201d<\/p>\n
Boulton said it was working with its supply chain partners, such as Kotahi, to keep product moving into the important region.<\/p>\n
He said it was looking at creative solutions to ensure it could continue to supply product into the region, including considering air freight options and diverting via the Mediterranean Sea and through the Suez Canal.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it\u2019s obviously a longer transit time. But what\u2019s important is that we continue to service our customers.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut that will come at additional costs, which we\u2019re working with our customers on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Securing livestock supply when margins are tight<\/p>\n
Boulton said 2025 was a hard-fought year for the company, dealing with low livestock volumes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThough we\u2019ve delivered a great result, there\u2019ve still been quite tight margins,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The company tightened its purse strings these past few years, and cost control measures saw it cut full-time roles and seasonal lay-offs across its sites.<\/p>\n
Boulton said tighter supply and high procurement costs put pressure on its ability to run the plants efficiently, on investment opportunities and its processing margins.<\/p>\n
Silver Fern Farms chief executive Dan Boulton.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had to fix capacity on and off, shift structures and longer seasonal layoffs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s been tough, but that\u2019s what we\u2019ve had to do to reduce our operating costs, in the light of the livestock numbers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, farmers were earning top dollar from processors for their stock, but Boulton said he expected farmgate prices to come off their highs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll see as market conditions change that there\u2019ll be a little bit more of that retained within processing, so we can invest in the processing sector and invest in the market.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t see farmgate prices easing dramatically too much based on long-term demand, I just see a little bit of the top coming out as capacity rebalances with supply.\u201d<\/p>\n
The company gained new commercial partnerships, and revenue jumped $409m on 2024\u2019s figures to more than $3 billion this year.<\/p>\n
Livestock numbers were down 6% in 2025, and through the first quarter of this year, the cull was down 18% for beef and 12% for lamb, he said.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the Silver Fern Farms Co-operative earned $14.2m in financial year 2025, up from a $10.9m loss the year before.<\/p>\n
– RNZ<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Exports to the Gulf halted, for now But its agility was being tested by war in the Gulf,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":357710,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[188897,74,138,3806,3214,12705,33736,105510,5342,10110,28205,111,139,69,1118,18935,5340,7457,28206,1237,1530],"class_list":["post-357709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-291m","tag-after","tag-business","tag-east","tag-exports","tag-farms","tag-fern","tag-halts","tag-losses","tag-middle","tag-monique","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-posts","tag-profit","tag-silver","tag-steele","tag-two","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=357709"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357709\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/357710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=357709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=357709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=357709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}