{"id":7987,"date":"2013-07-16T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-07-15T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.farmersweekly.co.nz\/velvet-grading-under-review\/"},"modified":"2013-07-16T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-07-15T12:00:00","slug":"velvet-grading-under-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.farmersweekly.co.nz\/news\/velvet-grading-under-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Velvet grading under review"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> < 1<\/span> minute<\/span><\/span>

Talks aimed at making grading changes to send \u201cclear market signals to growers\u201d were held with a small group of producers, processors and exporters in May, DINZ velvet marketing services manager Rhys Griffiths says.<\/p>\n

The review was the upshot of changing market dynamics, in particular a greater focus by Chinese and Korean buyers on the high-value parts \u2013 such as jelly tip – of the velvet stick.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s got to the point where there\u2019s a slight misalignment of how our velvet is graded,\u201d Griffiths says.<\/p>\n

He did not expect a greater number of grades but there could be a \u201crationalisation or rejigging\u201d of one or two grades.<\/p>\n

One possibility could be to segregate traditional from non-typical velvet and market them as two distinct products.<\/p>\n

The growing disparity between what New Zealand produced and how buyer demand has changed was highlighted by PGGWrightson velvet manager Tony Cochrane at the May deer industry conference.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe dilemma we have is that the proportion of Super-A is growing but the prices have swung the other way and that\u2019s due to the influence of China.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said that in 2002, Super-A comprised 6.2% of velvet volume and fetched $130\/kg, compared with regrowth velvet at $85\/kg. Fast forward 10 years and the tables had turned: Super-A accounted for 18% of marketed volume and averaged $100\/kg and regrowth $110\/kg.<\/p>\n

Griffiths said that any changes to velvet grading would be made after wider consultation and implemented by the start of the new selling season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Possible changes to the velvet grading system are under discussion.\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":7988,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t