Deer Industry New Zealand Response to Cervena Review

31-May-2004

Deer Industry New Zealand welcomes the release of the Cervena Review Report as an important step in resolving longstanding issues regarding Cervena’s future ownership and structure.

“There is a lot of history to this issue” says Deer Industry New Zealand Chairman Clive Jermy. “The process of moving Cervena to a stand alone structure was a major outcome of deer industry consultation in 1999.  Since then, to implement this transition while protecting the industry’s interest in Cervena, the appellation has been owned by the Cervena Trust, which was set up for this purpose.  As an industry we need to settle this issue once and for all so we can move forward with a degree of certainty and with our focus on extracting value from the market rather than on internal structures.” 

Deer Industry New Zealand believes the independent review and the Trust’s response set out a clear path for this to happen.  “The review recommends that the appellation changes to become a commercial brand operated by a single entity, with the question of who this is to be determined by seeking proposals from interested parties.  Without company agreement this cannot happen until current licenses expire in 2006. So between now and then the Trust has signalled it will discuss with stakeholders suggestions to improve the performance of the current structure.”

In parallel to implementing the steps set out by the Cervena Trust, Deer Industry New Zealand believes consideration must be given to how new demand can be created in the USA.  “There is general agreement that the USA holds significant potential for growth as a high value market for New Zealand venison.  There has been considerable work undertaken over many years under the Cervena appellation to build an awareness of the unique qualities of New Zealand natural, tender venison.  A new approach needs to be taken to assist the industry’s diversification strategy, to build new demand outside traditional European game season foodservice channels.”

As part of the Venison Industry Strategy released for industry consultation last week, the deer industry is proposing to target the USA and Canada as markets where additional demand will be created to assist the industry’s diversification away from traditional markets in the game season in Europe.

Deer Industry New Zealand will now work with the Cervena Trust, licensee companies and producer stakeholders to assist the resolution of the issue to provide a clear foundation for proposed new market development and demand creation programmes.