ANZCO Foods CEO update - July 2022

Relationships are an important part of any business and with the borders reopening, I have been able to reconnect with customers, suppliers, and others in the industry in Australia, Singapore, Japan, Canada, and the USA in the last few months. We’ve maintained regular contact with our international stakeholders while we’ve been unable to travel, but however good technology is, it doesn’t replace those face-to-face connections.

Here are a couple of observations I made while I was away. Covid continues to impact business globally and the challenges we are experiencing around labour shortages and the supply chain are global issues and not just a problem for us in New Zealand. ANZCO Foods will be continuing its focus on retaining and recruiting people to work in our business as well as managing supply chain complexities to ensure we can continue to deliver our quality product to customers around the world.

We will all need to remain alert to rising interest rates, fuel and energy costs, and general costs of living, as well as how these could influence consumer confidence, particularly for premium New Zealand beef and lamb products.

While in North America, I was able to visit The Lamb Company – a cooperative owned by several of the largest New Zealand and Australian meat processors/exporters who collaborate and collectively market their product through the North American company. This lamb and beef marketing business focuses on the key attributes that the modern-day North American consumers increasingly demand in red meat including grass-fed, raised without antibiotics or added hormones, free range and humanely treated, and reinforced by a great tasting product with consistent eating quality. It was great to see the progress The Lamb Company is making in North America in delivering these attribute-based beef and lamb products to retail consumers.

Peter Conley
ANZCO Foods Chief Executive