Meat & Wool New Zealand Consult

14 July 2006

Meat & Wool New Zealand Consult

Meat & Wool New Zealand's annual consultation programme is underway with the distribution of a discussion document outlining their provisional work programme and proposed budget, for the 2006/2007 year (1 October 2006 to 30 September 2007).

A series of public meetings has also been organised for those interested in taking part in the consultation to attend.
Meat & Wool New Zealand Chairman, Jeff Grant says that, subject to the consultation process, Meat & Wool New Zealand has no intention of putting up levies in the next financial year.

He said that in the Board's view, the bulk of the money received by Meat & Wool New Zealand in the 2006/07 financial year should be spent on existing programmes and research projects.

"We raise $32million through levy fees annually, and our intention is to use this money as leverage to bring in another $130million from other sources, particularly, from meat companies, the dairy industry and a variety of government agencies, exporters and other organisations we do business with," Jeff Grant said.

The proposed 2007 budget underpins Meat & Wool New Zealand's three core strategies to:

* Contribute to improving market access and reducing the impact of non tariff trade barriers for meat and wool animal products.

* Contribute to increasing demand reputation and premium positioning for meat and wool products.

* Contribute to improving the global competitiveness of New Zealand meat and wool farmers and industries.

Meat & Wool New Zealand's proposed major areas of expenditure continue to be Market Development, Research & Development, Technology Transfer, Wool Technical Advice, Trade Policy, Issues Management, and Skills and Education.

The Meat & Wool New Zealand Board of directors has emphasized the importance of receiving feedback from levy payers and other interested industry participants on their proposals, and say they are also keen to hear about specific issues that may not included in the work programme.

People can take part in the consultation process by attending local meetings or by returning written submissions directly to Meat & Wool New Zealand by 5pm on 18 August 2006.

Copies of the consultation document are available from the Meat & Wool New Zealand website: www.meatandwoolnz.com by emailing consultation@meatandwoolnz.com or phoning 0800 696 328.

A list of the public meetings is also available on the Meat & Wool New Zealand website. More meetings are to be confirmed.

ENDS

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