Global connections helping to transform merino industry

Agriculture Minister Jim Anderton presents New Zealand Merino Mana Awards.

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"We welcome and value our global partners," Agriculture Minister Jim Anderton said tonight in Queenstown as he presented the New Zealand Merino Mana Awards to Pier Luigi Loro Piana, whose legendary family firm uses the finest of New Zealand merino wool in its high end fashion suits.

The prestigious occasion was attended by representatives from some of the world's most notable media, including Italy's largest daily paper, Corriere della Sera, Harper's Bazaar and Japan's largest newspaper.

"In one sense, there is nothing new about people coming to New Zealand because of a connection to the wool we grow here," Jim Anderton said.

"Since the birth of New Zealand, wool has been one of the dominant fibres in the fabric of our relations with the world.

"However," he added, "for a long time coarse wools were the staple of New Zealand's economy. It has now become much more diversified and sophisticated.

"Today, the New Zealand merino industry is thriving," Jim Anderton said. "Instead of large bales of wool and frozen carcasses of meat, our exports are as likely to be fresh greenshell mussels or chilled lamb chops, perhaps served with a side dish of olives and washed down with a Marlborough sauvignon blanc.

"Or high value strands of merino wool. The finest merino can fetch $1600 a kilogram. We have had to be innovative in the way we produce and market our primary production. Our wool has been no exception.

"I join with the industry in expressing gratitude to Loro Piana for helping us to realise the potential of this world class merino product. Before Loro Piana helped establish our brand and initiated long term grower supply contracts, our merino wool was a commodity blend, being sold undifferentiated from merino from other countries," Jim Anderton said.

"Loro Piana's involvement with merino in New Zealand is proof to us all, once again, of the value and necessity to us of our global connections.

Award presentation at the New Zealand Merino Mana Award for Pier Luigi Loro Piana.

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Speech notes for address at award presentation at the New Zealand Merino Mana Award for Pier Luigi Loro Piana, Wai Restaurant, Queenstown

It's my great pleasure as Minister of Agriculture to be present for this Mana Award to Mr Pier Luigi Loro Piana.

And it's my pleasure, also, to welcome to New Zealand our guests from around the world who have come here through Loro Piana.

In one sense there is nothing new about people coming to New Zealand because of a connection to the wool we grow here. Since the birth of New Zealand, wool has been one of the dominant fibres in the fabric of our relations with the world.

In New Zealand you are in the youngest country in the world − the last in the world to be settled by humans. The first came here as recently as a thousand years ago. Europeans only began to settle here in any numbers in the mid-nineteenth century.

And when they first arrived they began to carve their living from the land. For the first fifty years or so, until refrigerated shipping was developed and we began to farm meat and dairy for export, a living on the land mostly meant growing wool.

For a long time, the wool we grew was dominated by coarse wools. It was a staple of our economy. Time in the wool sheds was almost a rite of passage for a young New Zealander growing up. It was tough, unsophisticated work.

About four decades ago, things began to change and the value we got from exporting wool as a low value commodity began to disappear.

In 1969 we exported 237-thousand tonnes of clean wool. Last year, that was down to 155-thousand tonnes.

Our economy has become much more diversified and sophisticated.

We still export more primary products as a proportion of our GDP than any other developed country in the world. But instead of those exports being simply large bales of wool and frozen carcasses of meat, they are as likely to be fresh greenshell mussels or chilled lamb chops, perhaps served with a side dish of olives and washed down with a Marlborough sauvignon blanc.

Or, they are high value strands of merino wool. The value comes not only from the sophistication of the finished product, but in the science and technology of its production and processing. There is virtually as much science in a lamb chop as in a cell phone.

From climate and soil science, to sophisticated research into animal feeds and nutrients, to world-leading bio-security and animal tracking processes, to the world's most advanced animal management systems . we have had to be innovative in the way we produce and market our primary production.
Our wool has been no exception. It is within our growing tradition of a high value, internationally connected agricultural economy that we have developed our merino wool industry.

It is no coincidence that government officials believe the average sale price of our New Zealand wool will increase by a third in the next four years even when export volumes are expected to decrease. An increasing share of our wool exports will be merino.

And we can see why − the finest merino can fetch $1600 a kilogram, compared to an average sale price of less than $4 a kilo for coarse wools.

I join with the industry in expressing gratitude to Loro Piana for helping us to realise the potential of this world class merino product.

Since the company established the Zelander programme in 1997, to help differentiate New Zealand merino, we have recognised our merino is whiter, stronger and longer than merino from anywhere else on the planet.

Before Loro Piana helped establish our brand and initiated long term grower supply contracts, our merino wool was a commodity blend, being sold undifferentiated from merino from other countries.

Today, the New Zealand merino industry is thriving. That's good for Loro Piana. It's very good for our merino wool growers. And it's good, too, for New Zealand grown high-value manufacturers, like Icebreaker, which has emerged as a leading international retailer of merino fashion sports wear. It's able to tie stories about merino wool, grown in the unique conditions of New Zealand, to our heritage as a nation of rugged explorers.

We take pride in being the nation that first conquered the highest mountain in the world. We take pride, too, in being the fastest to sail round the globe. And so New Zealand's greatest yachtsman, Sir Peter Blake, wore merino for 43 days non-stop through the Southern Ocean while he was sailing round the world in 1995.

New Zealand's rugged environment, our tradition of adventure and innovation, and our place as the world's leading primary producer are part of the story of our merino wool.

We are adding to that an environmental advantage, too. New Zealand is on its way to being the world's first truly sustainable country. We are the source of the most eco-logically responsible primary production in the world. That will only add to the consumer desirability of our products.

Loro Piana's involvement with merino in New Zealand is proof to us all, once again, of the value and necessity to us of our global connections.

We welcome and value our global partners. Together we are unlocking the potential of products grown in our unique environment, using our unique technologies and your expertise and networks.

Everyone benefits from these connections.

So I welcome our guests and express gratitude to Loro Piana for our association, with every best wish to you all for a prosperous, successful future.