A cautious optimism pervades Beef + Lamb NZ after the United States reportedly scrapped additional beef duty dating back to August 2025.
The Minister of Trade and Agriculture Todd McClay distantly hailed the reprieve applicable to beef, kiwifruit and offal. This trio constitutes 25% of the agricultural goods New Zealand exports stateside, per a Daily Telegraph report of November 16, 2025.
McClay said that the gesture will redeem the country some NZ$330 million ($187.4 million) in additional duty costs.
Beef alone had between April and November 2025 counted expenses in the upward of NZ$300 million ($170.4 million).
Washington had first charged a 10% surtax on Kiwi goods in April before raising it to 15% in August, citing a slim trade imbalance.
Auckland in turn applies an average 0.3% tariff on American imports, according to McClay.
Beef no Longer Straitened
While it is still ascertaining the tariff removal, the country’s Meat Industry Association (MIA) is anticipating that beef will benefit greatly.
According to the MIA’s chairman Nathan Guy, beef will recover a traditional tariff of below 1% under the World Trade Organization (WTO)’s quota terms.
Guy also opines that exports will rise after trade uncertainty ends concerning his country’s biggest beef destination, the United States.
Tariffs there however straitened returns just after New Zealand had scored a worldwide beef export growth annually of 1.3% in Q1, 2025.
Of these quarterly shipments totaling 134,240 tonnes, the U.S. had taken the lion’s share of 46.2% or 62,017 tonnes.
With tariffs gone, the Oceania country can advantage at a time when the United States is courting costly beef due to a herd decline. And since grass-fed beef from NZ has quality guarantee, it enjoys an ample low-tariff quota stateside, per the stats below.
NZ-United States Beef Trade Statistics
Each October-September marketing year, New Zealand exports over 150,000 tonnes of beef to the United States, per the Beef + Lamb NZ. The monthly export margin worldwide however slashed to 27,811 tonnes or 6% down in September 2025 on account of 15% U.S.’ tariffs.
What is the U.S.’ quota for NZ beef?
In normal trade years, New Zealand can export a beef/veal quota totaling 213,402 tonnes surcharged 4.4 US¢ per kg. This is according to the NZ Meat Board. Anything above that limit attracts a tariff of 26.4% depending on the reigning free-on-board value. Between April and November 2025, however, the U.S. slapped a 10-15% additional tariff, which it removed mid-November.
New Zealand also accesses a low tariff export quota to the European Union (EU) at 53,000 tonnes for all bovine meat. EU-bound frozen beef for processing also attracts a low-tariff 63,703-tonne quota.
How much beef does NZ export worldwide?
New Zealand has historically exported between 236,000 tonnes of beef (1990) at the lowest and 509,000 tonnes (2024) at the highest. In the year ending June 2025, the tonnage to global markets had hit 463,000 tonnes.