The New Zealand authorities have passed a law according to which, from April 30, 2023, the country will completely stop the export of live cattle by sea, according to the Maritime Executive.
“This decision is intended to protect the country’s reputation for world-class animal welfare standards,” New Zealand Minister of Agriculture Damien O’Connor was quoted as saying. “The remoteness of New Zealand makes it difficult for any animal to travel, and they spend long periods at sea, making them more susceptible to heat stress and other risks.”
The government has decided to move to a total ban on livestock exports in 2019. So, in 2020, after the incident with the Gulf Livestock 1 cattle truck. According to the then rescued Philippine officer, the ship was caught in a storm caused by Typhoon Maysak, its engine failed, and then an extreme wave covered it, and it sank. 42 crew members and almost 6 thousand animals died. Gulf Livestock 1 was heading from Napier, New Zealand to the Chinese port of Tangshan.
“In the first half of 2022, New Zealand exported 50.4 thousand heads of live cattle. And all this volume went to China. In 2021, the country exported 134.7 thousand heads of livestock. China was the only sales market, ”the newspaper writes, citing official figures from the New Zealand government.
The ban is not expected to impact the country’s economy, given that seaborne livestock exports accounted for roughly 0.6% of commodity sector export revenue in 2021. New Zealand’s primary sector exports totaled $30 billion in 2022.