The New Zealand red meat industry exported $759 million in products in January 2024, according to analysis by the Meat Industry Association.

The association's chief executive, Sirma Karapeeva, said the January 2023 performance was down 8 percent, reflecting continued volatility in global markets.

"It is clear that our red meat exporters continue to face challenges," Karapeeva said.

"This is the lowest January result since 2019."

She said the main reason for the decline was China, where exports fell 21 percent year-on-year to $263 million.

However, she said overall exports to the United States were up 10 percent to $182 million, and overall exports to the United Kingdom were up 34 percent to $38 million.

Chilled lamb exports overall also increased by 48 percent to 4,311 tons.

Karapieva said, "While this reflects a recovery in frozen exports from the low levels seen in the last two months of January, it is positive given the logistical disruptions of recent months."

Overall, lamb and beef exports were relatively unchanged compared to January last year, but the value of lamb exports fell 9 percent to $305 million and beef exports fell 6 percent to $320 million.

This reflects the impact of China on overall export values.

Exports to China declined in both volume and value, with the free on board (FoB) price of lamb falling by $1.45/kg to $5.07/kg and beef by $0.99/kg to $7.28/kg.

Lamb exports to the U.S. increased 16 percent to $45 million and beef exports increased 12 percent to $120 million.

Beef exports to the United Kingdom, supported by the UK Free Trade Agreement, which comes into force in May 2023, also continued to grow, increasing from $588,000 in January last year to over $2 million.

Lamb accounted for most of the increase in exports to the UK, recovering from January 2023's low levels.

Exports stabilized at $133 million in the fifth quarter.