A partnership between Beef + Lamb New Zealand and a restaurant chain in Taiwan is helping promote the health benefits of grass-fed New Zealand beef and to increase exports.
Royal Host has 14 restaurants in Taiwan and is using a social media campaign to advertise the low fat, low cholesterol advantages of its New Zealand beef products.
Cows in Rangiwahia, Manawatu. Photo: RNZ / Alexander Robertson
Taiwan is the fourth largest importer of New Zealand beef, taking about 17,000 tonnes each year, valued at more than $130 million.
Beef + Lamb chief executive Scott Champion said 98 percent of New Zealand beef was grass-fed, which is proving popular with health conscious Taiwanese consumers.
Mr Champion said American beef was predominantly grain-finished, as was about half of beef from Australia.
"For us, it's about how do we position New Zealand as a preferred supplier into that market around those attributes and those benefits to the consumer and then becoming a preferred supplier over time.
"That's really the key opportunity here, and what we'd like to have happen is that when people think about the beef they'd like to eat, they think about New Zealand first."
He said the the marketing campaign in Taiwan could be applied to other sophisticated Asian markets.
