On Friday, agriculture minister announced the completion of the final exports of New Zealand ‘s Livestock by sea, effectively putting an end to live animal exports.
In 2021, the government made the decision to stop shipping New Zealand’s Livestock offshore, mainly to build herds in trading partners such as China.
The government gave farmers a two-year window to transition out of the profitable export business.
Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor stated that New Zealand’s location on the map means that the journey to northern hemisphere markets is lengthy, which presents unavoidable animal welfare challenges.
Since 2015, live exports by sea have contributed about 0.32% of the country’s primary sector export revenue, which includes farming and mining.
The total value of live animal exports in 2022 was NZ$524 million ($322.78 million).
In 2020, New Zealand introduced interim measures following the capsizing of a ship bound for China, which killed almost 6,000 cows and 41 of the 43 crew members.