FROZEN PRODUCE.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 18680, 1 May 1926, Page 12

FROZEN PRODUCE.

A BEEF WAR. N.Z. CHILLED MEAT. (from our special correspondent.) LONDON, March 25. | The question of meat prices is to the fore of late. On the one hand, frozen meat importers are languishing under the oppressive competition caused by a fluctuating glut of Argentine chilled beef, while on tho other hand the public id being told by many newspapers that it is not receiving the benefit which the meat retailer should pass on to it from the lower wholesale values. Tlio National Food Council is energetically pursuing a meat prices enquiry which may have startling effects later in regard to the position of tho retailer. Frozen meat, generally speaking, is under a cloud just now for the reasons quoted, and the only meat in the frozen section of our markets, that can be said to be holding its own in the matter of price is the better class New Zealand lamb. For this there is a fair demand, and slightly increasing custom, but when one refers to the secondary and lower qualities of frozen lamb cn offer, and also frozen mutton, there is nothing but disappointment to record concerning current trading. Australian lamb has, during the last week or so, also been meeting a better market so far as the prime Melbourno carcases are concerned, and values, with Bid per lb in SmitMeld, as top, are apparently well maintained by this meat. The frozen lamb market may, in fact, do considerably better after Easter, but a sad story of losses has yet to be told,by the holders of the large amount of stale New Zealand remainder meat still in store unsold.

The Beef War. Once ngaiii ha 3 the contest which the large meat exporting companies from the River Plate are accustomed to wage with each other at intervals, reached the columns of the daily Press in Great Britain. One is accustomed to have the matter discussed in the meat trade press, but its percolation through to the public press is not without significance and importance, as it is apt to prove a price symptom in the biggest meat market in .the world. The reference made to the Plate beef war subject in this column recently by way of quotation of what Messrs W. Weddel and Co., Ltd. said regarding it in their annual review of the frozen meat trade indicates that there is, indeed, a deadly contest in progress between the big American and British parties in this'business. Naturally the daily newspapers'hail it in such terms as ',Big Three' in the Meat War," and prooeed.to Btate that .thejsgu/><l of' the "Bjg, ThM5£ rt> 'i|:—Armoiu £40,000,000 ; i iS#«r#ra t "£30,000,000 ; Vestey's;'£l2,so(J,OOO.' It might, of course, be the total amount of concerned in all the undertakers oontrolled by Lord .Vestey and his brother, Sir Edrmind H.' Vestey, Bart., is nearly forty milliohs sterling. Interviewed by a, London riewßpa'per the general ; manager 'of "one British. company has said: "No one fyn at present foresee when t\i6 struggle will «nd. jire no signfc of'peac6 at the moment. The' Vestey companies are .in a relatively stronger, position than their American rivals • because - tliey are so . staunchly entrenched. While losses may be sustained by firms on the wholesale market, .additional profit has been made lately in the retail business." Several of the Rirer Plato moat exporting companies hate been forced to dattip down their fires of exports lately owing to the poor prioes obtained at the consuming end for the chilled beef arriving. We believe that both the Sansinena Company, and the English and Dutch Moat Company have, for the time being, or had recently temporarily reduced their shipments to a minimum to avfcid. as much as possible of the preset losses incurred.

Beef Exports irom N.Z. A point which was very closely related to ithe fortunes of the New Zealand l)cef export trade was raised by Sir Thomas in the course of a speech which he made the other evening at a,meeting of the British Cold and Ice Association, of which he is a past president. It'was in discussing, a paper by Dr. T. Moran, one of the Food Investigation Board's research , workers, entitled ' 'Science and the Future of the Frozen Meat Industry," that Sir Thomas said that there were prospects that Australia and New Zealand would be able to send to Great Britain chilled beef in good condition. The Shaw, SaviU and Albion Line was goiflg to have vessels that would do the voyage from Brisbane to London in from 28 to 30 days, and that was a period within which chilled beef could bd safely carried, and handled on arrival. Several other speakers, however, were rather emphatic that Australia would never find chilled beef exports a commercial proposition. Captain Ross Grant, _ the Commonwealth Veterinary Officer in London, ,was decidedly of that view, as she could not run her work continuously throughout the year in the North, ana there were not enough cattle for regular supplies to be njade ,to Britain. Mr R. S. Forsyth, the London manager of the New Zealand Meat Produoers' Board, thought that even if chilled beef transport from New Zealand to Britain were practicable, it might be commercially a failure in view of the disastrously low prices which obtained in London on occasion owing to the glut of Argentine meat.

Presh Argentine Beef. Something of a sensation has been caused by the first appearance in London this month of supplies of unrefrigerated, freshly-killed Argentine beef marketed in West SmithfieJd. Cattle were carried on the hoof in steamers to Zeebrugge in Belgium, under the auspices of a British Company, which has established in the Belgian port a slaughterhouse for handling this business. The cattle so treated are carried across rapidly in the Har-wich-Zeebrugge train ferry steamers, and quickly railed to London, where they appear in competition w'ith good Scotch beef. The initiation of this new supply was successfully achieved, and it is stated that present facilities allow for the handling of about a hundred beasts per week. Doubtless, it will transpire later whether this business is profitable, and if so, it may be presumed to give English meat raisers much to think about. CUSTOMS RETURNS. CHRISTCHURCH FIGURES. Following are details of the Customs and beer duties collected at Chrislehurch for April, 1926: £ ». dNet Customs, April, 1936 .. 87,153 13 G Net Customs, April, 1925 .. 93,676 10 8 Decrease, April, 1926 .. 5,522 17 2 Net Customs, March, X 926 .. 100,699 14 9 Decrease, April, 1926 .. 13,546 1 3 Beer duty, April, 1926 .. 0,873 4 2 Beer duty, April, 1925 7,208 7 6 Docrease, April, 1926 .. 335 3 4 Beer duty, March.. 1926 .. 9,126 110 Decrease, April, 1926 .. 2,252 17 8 Meat Levy. . £ I. d. April, 1926 .. .. 594 8 X April, 1925 .. 763 3 6 Decrease,. April, 1926 168 15 5 Butter and Cheese Levy. £ s. d. April, 1929 .. .. 45 410 April 1915 183 17 7 Decrease, April, 1926 13913 9