New Zealand minister officially opens new pet food plant

New Zealand’s Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has announced the opening of a $21 million (€19.3M) premium pet food plant in Christchurch, 450 km (280 miles) from Wellington. This indicates the country’s aspirations to enhance its pet food exporting capabilities.

The state-of-the-art factory, expected to be the Kiwi nation’s largest export cannery for pet food, has been developed by New Zealand Riverland Foods Limited. 

According to government officials, 98% of its annual production capacity of 30 million pet food cans is intended to be exported, fetching an estimated value of NZ$120 million ($72.47M/€66.75M).

Riverland is gearing up exports to neighboring Australia, Hong Kong, South Korea, North America and Singapore, where the company has obtained regulatory approvals.

A key role

McClay said that the new venture will “no doubt play a key role” in expanding and growing the country’s global footprint and support the target to “double the exports by value” in 10 years. 

“It is great to see investment in value-added processing that supports the creation of jobs, diversifies the economy and increases returns to primary producers,” he says. 

Official figures show that New Zealand’s pet food exports have quadrupled in under a decade, rising from NZ$75 million ($45M/ €42M) a year in 2014 to NZ$320 million ($195M/€178.5M) in 2023.