HIGH MEAT PRICES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 22, 27 January 1937, Page 20

HIGH MEAT PRICES.

SYDNEY IN THE THROES. NEW AID IN I'OSTIMt. (From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, January 20. Sydney is in the throes of high meat prices; but butchers say that there will be a fall when trade becomes normal again. "Prices must surely return to the .old Vvrl as soon as unsettled conditions ■ rising out of the Japanese agreement. tin- breaking of the drought and indusriiil troubles to the abattoirs return to • inual," said Mr. Hand, secretary of the Master Butchers'. Association. To help butchers pass on the increase : u prices, special costing charts have been issued by the federation. A body of beef, about 3.501b, was cut into joints. Each joint was trimmed ind boned ready for sale. Trimmings. bones and individual joints were all weighed. The percentage of saleable meat to the carcase in each joint was then calculated. A tabic was then drawn up. computing prices for all cuts with body prices from 2d to Gd per lb. rising by l-Bd> per lb. •"We fully realise,*' the memorandum adds, "that prices vary from district to district and that sometimes it is-neces-sary to reduce the price in order to meet improper competition. "It will be found by consulting the percentage column, that if. say, rump steak, which represents 4,M per cent of the carcase, is to be reduced by Id per lb, the reduction can be balanced by increasing, say, round steak and thin flank by the same amount, or by increasing ribs and bone, representing 8.68 per cent, by Jd per lb." The memorandum further states that if the total meat and stock purchased in a business amounts to £100 a week, and the total running cost* are £58 a week, and the total rebate for sales of fats, bones, tallow, hides, etc., are £8, it is necessary to get a gross profit of £50 in order to nftke the business pay. which must be worked on a HO per cent gross profit basis.

I Explaining the method of costing 'increases, the memorandum sets out that if beef is purchased at Id a lb. and the butcher wishes to know the price he should charge for rump steak, he finds ; from the table that the value of rump | stead from & body costing 4d is 10d per ilb. He then looks up 10d in another (50 per cent column) and discovers that he iirust charge 1/3 per Jb to cover tie costs.