Silver Fern Farms has confirmed it's getting fresh analysis done on meat industry restructuring, including mergers.
Silver Fern, along with the Alliance group, another meat co-operative, and a third company, ANZCO, have been discussing rationalisation measures.
The Government knocked back their plan to tackle over-capacity in the meat industry by introducing a tradeable processing rights system, saying they needed more support.
But Silver Fern's new chairman Rob Hewett said after Wednesday's annual meeting that it remains committed to industry consolidation and has commissioned PriceWaterhouseCooper to investigate options that include merging the two co-ops.
He said it's one of a range of options being considered, but it is still very early days.
The Silver Fern Farms Board now has two new directors, Richard Young and Dan Jex-Blake, backed by the farmer Meat Industry Excellence group that's campaigning for reform.
Mr Hewett says that won't change the company's outlook, because it and the MIE group have similar aims.
He says Silver Fern Farms is still committed to rationalising the industry and frustrated that there is no tangible outcome, but it's still committed to exploring options so in that regard the company's aspirations align with the MIE group.
