Nov 28, 2025
The 2025/26 velvet season is now well underway, and many farmers are feeling the weight of a second complicated year, coming off the back of last year’s market access resolution and lower prices. Prices have eased again, and with rising on-farm costs, margins are tight for a lot of growers.
In a message to farmers on the state of the current season, sent earlier this week, DINZ Board Chair Paddy Boyd explained:
“At the heart of the issue are the conflicting market signals we’ve seen over recent years. Buyers have repeatedly said they want shorter, rounder, better quality velvet that’s easier to process. Yet at the same time, those same buyers continued paying good money for NT [larger, non-traditional] grades, so as farmers, we naturally chased the returns.”
“That meant quantity over quality, because financially, it made sense. Until now.”
“But the market isn’t broken. The future for velvet looks to be very strong, but we’re at a crossroads right now due to excess volume in one particular category,” Boyd explained.
DINZ CEO Rhys Griffiths recognises the frustrations farmers may be feeling this season.
“It’s pretty disappointing to hear the poor prices being offered currently,” Griffiths says, “especially when we know that consumer demand in our markets remains relatively stable.”
"Farmers are probably sick of me saying the markets aren’t broken by now, but they’re not. Consumer demand in both South Korea and China hasn’t changed. What we are seeing, though, is a softening in wholesale demand, with now an oversupply of larger Korean grade velvet. As Korea is the market that has taken much of our NT grades in the past, this plateauing of wholesale demand will influence demand for those grades, and thus prices.”
“Korean Health Functional Foods are the future, but it will take some time to feel the benefits on-farm. Health Functional Foods are underpinned by human clinical trials and regulatory approval, so while great for velvet’s reputation as an ingredient, these trials and approvals take time.”
After spending parts of November meeting with visiting corporate delegations from South Korea and China, Griffiths came away from the meetings encouraged by developments in-market, particularly in China as the consumer market – and the political will behind it – evolves and matures as part of Healthy China 2030.
“While this season is disappointing for producers, we are building a three-legged stool for velvet, like that for venison [made up of Europe, North America and China], in the name of building a diversified market mix and future-proofing the industry. South Korea will always be a key consumer market for us, but as China modernises, emphasising the health of its population together with its traditional culture, its population of 1.4 billion represents a significant opportunity for velvet’s use in contemporary formulations of traditional Chinese medicine.”
“Add to that the early market development work we are doing in Vietnam, and I remain confident in the future of New Zealand velvet despite this season’s struggles.”
