1 Nov 2012

Alliance wins exclusive contract with Marks and Spencer

10:10 pm on 1 November 2012

The country's biggest sheepmeat exporter, the Alliance Group has won an exclusive contract to supply chilled New Zealand lamb to the big British retailer, Marks Spencer.

The co-operative will be the sole supplier of chilled lamb from Christmas 2012, with lambs supplied by approved South Island farms.

It's the first time Marks Spencer has agreed to a single New Zealand supplier for chilled lamb.

Alliance marketing manager Murray Brown says the company's been working with the retailer on a range of initiatives, such as technical support in the market and yield quality, that helped secure the deal.

He says Marks Spencer has traditionally worked with two major suppliers.

Mr Brown says this is a new initiative for the retailers which they are trialling on a one year basis with the opportunity to extend it.

"Being an exclusive supplier obviously we can develop a strong relationship and work a lot of projects and look to develop more volume and more product".

Mr Brown says the Marks Spencer contract includes a small amount of organic lamb and will account for about 15% of Alliance's chilled lamb exports to the UK.

Alliance's main competitor, Silver Fern Farms, has said it lost out on the Marks Spencer contract because it couldn't supply organic lamb.

Chief executive Keith Cooper said it's unfortunate in view of the effort that Silver Fern and its suppliers have put into supporting Marks Spencer for the past five years.

He says the priority now is to focus on supplying lamb to another big UK retail chain, Tesco.