The Government has abandoned plans to reinstate the export of live cattle (and sheep) from New Zealand.

This has been the self-declared #1 priority of National’s oxymoron-titled Animal Welfare Minister Andrew Hoggard, former Federated Farmers president. However, he conceded this week he couldn’t get the proposition through Cabinet.

Live exports had been a $374 million business in 2022, the last full year of the trade, with Napier Port the country’s biggest port of departure.

But the tide turned in 2020 after a vessel with 41 crew and nearly 6,000 cattle sank off the coast of Japan during a typhoon, having departed from Napier.

The Labour Government enacted a ban, which began in 2023. Hoggard was determined to overturn this. The public at large has never supported live exports. A petition with some 57,000 names opposing reinstatement of them was submitted to parliament in 2024.

MPI records show that Napier Port had been a big player in the live export trade.

In 2022, for example, 15 of the NZ’s total 20 live export vessels (75%) departed from Napier Port, accounting for 93,743 cattle (70% of NZ’s total 134,590). The last ship out beating the ban left Napier Port on 13 April 2023, the last month such exports were permitted.

In 2021, Napier Port accounted for 59% of live export vessels; in 2020, 40%.

Not numbers to be proud of, IMHO.

Asked to comment, a spokesperson for Napier Port replied: “There isn’t much for us to add to the stalled decision — the announcement doesn’t change anything operationally for Napier Port, given the ban has been in place since April 2023.” 

It will be comforting to see our beloved Napier Port continuing to focus on logs, apples and squash.