Mr. Dale Crammond:

I am happy to address that. Obviously, we can control the controllables. We are incredibly interested in seeking to improve the market access situation for our own producers and it is very important for us. On China, it was raised at the recent trade mission. We were in China in May with the Minister, Deputy McConalogue. We are working through a Chinese protocol for lamb. It will be difficult and we are trying to understand it a little bit better. We got a first draft of a protocol from the Department as recently as last week and we are working through it.

On the US, it is a similar challenge. We have access now in theory but we have to make it work commercially. The US has a certain way of doing things from a food safety perspective and we have to prove now that our plants are equivalent to its food safety standards. That work is ongoing. The US could be a good market for the industry. There is a growing consumer demand for and interest in lamb there.

As I said, let us control the controllables. We cannot control what New Zealand does but let us try to maximise the markets that we have available to us.