BRITISH LAMB MARKET

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22590, 21 December 1938, Page 16

BRITISH LAMB MARKET

NEW ZEALAND'S TOP PRICE

HIGHER THAN SCOTTISH

(moif oca own corrbspokdekt.) LONDON, November 17. New Zealand lamb —and to a lesser •degree Australian lamb —has been receiving a good deal of unlooked for publicity in England and Scotland this year. A few months ago, English and Scottish farmers were loudly protesting that increased imports of New Zealand and Australian lamb were responsible for their receiving prices much below those ruling last year for their produce. (The fall has been from 2d to 3d per lb.) This allegation was promptly scotched by the Minister for Agriculture, Mr W. S. Morrison, declaring in the House of Commons that imports of mutton and lamb from the Dominions were, in fact, lower this year than last.

Now, after the position has existed for the last six to eight weeks, the "Meat Trades Journal" has drawn attention to the fact that New Zealand and Australian lamb is selling at a higher price than the best Scottish lamb, and the tip-top English lamb. This position, rather than weakening the case for the Dominions, strengthens their argument in refuting the complaints of the Home farmers that lamb from overseas is destroying their price. New Zealand lamb, at 7i'd per lb, is actually id per lb higher than last year, while Scottish hill lamb is selling to-day for 7d per lb and Scottish paddock lamb for 7id per lb.

Smithfield Figures Comparative figures at Smithfield reveal another interesting point. For the week ending November 6 last year, the proportion of imported lamb on the hooks to that of Home killed was 71.4 per cent.; for the week ending November 13 it was 72.5 per cent.

This year.- for the week ending November 5. imported lamb on the market totalled only 60.4 per cent.; for the week ending November 12 it was 62.2 per cent. Thus, instead of the quantity of imported lamb increasing, it has actually decreased by 10 per cent., while the Home killed lamb has risen by that figure. The higher price of New Zealand lamb, coinciding with the lower value of Home killed, is a tribute not only to the fine quality of the meat, but also to the excellent marketing methods and propaganda of the New Zealand Meat Producers' Board under the direction of the British representative, Mr R. S. Forsyth. While the Home farmer bewails the lower price paid for his produce, the fact remains that he himself is largely responsible for the decline. Marketing methods in England and Scotland can hardly be described as unimpeachable. Farmers have a habit of withholding their lambs from the market until they consider the price is suitable, or until such time as weather or other conditions make it imperative to part with them. Then they are often offered en bloc to the buyer.

Parliamentary Comment

The latest comment upon the present position was made in the House of Commons this week during a debate on agriculture. Mr G. Lambert, the National Liberal member for South Molton, speaking of Dominion competition, declared that New Zealand and Australia, while they were good customers, were really ruining the British sheep farmer. He added that if British farmers became prejudiced against the Empire, it would not be a good thing.

The Minister's Reply Mr Morrison, the Minister for Agriculture, replied by saying that supplies of mutton and lamb from foreign countries were regulated to 65 per cent, of the quantities imported in the Ottawa standard year. Discussions had been going on with regard to the supplies from Australia and New Zealand, and it was expected that imports from these Dominions during 1938 would not exceed 5,500,000cwt, which was about the same as in 1937, when prices were on the whole very good. It was possible that this figure would not be reached. In October imports were 174,000cwt less than in October, 1937, and for the first 10 months of the year the whole imports of frozen mutton and lamb had been some HO.OOOcwt less than in the corresponding period of 1937. One reason for the fall in Home prices, Mr Morrison continued, was the heavy marketing. The prices of wool, pelts, and other by-products had fallen considerably, and this had tended to depress the price of fat sheep apart from the price of mutton. It looked as if the decline in values had been checked. To the extent that this decline was due to temporary factors such as the drought, it should correct itself, and, where it was due to a temporary recession, as the economic policy of the Government developed I such things should put themselves] right.

Change of Attitude

Another interesting comment upon the position of the British lamb market, more particularly because it suggests a change of attitude towards New Zealand and Australian imports, was made by the "North British Agriculturist" after the conference on the sheep situation, held in Edinburgh under the auspices of the National Farmers' Union and the Chamber of Agriculture of Scotland. "The more level-headed men associated with the sheep trade realise the impossibility of restricted imports meeting the situation which faces them," the writer stated. Commenting upon the possibility of war, he also declared that, taking a wide view of the world situation, a sharp restriction of Dominion exports "is obviously out of the question." He added: "The Government were completely out in their earlier conception that the sheep crisis could be met by a restriction of imports. It is consequently up to them to think out some way of meeting the crisis." A subsidy payment for sheep and mutton, on the lines of the fat cattle supply, was mentioned.

Watch Argentine!

While New Zealand and Australia have had much attention directed to their exports, the British farmer is also being invited to regard the rapid improvement in the quality of Argentine lamb. After a recent lamb test at Frigoriflco La Blanca (judged, incidentally, by a New Zealander, Dr. McMeekin, who is studying under Dr. John Hammond at Cambridge), it was reported by "The Times" that "experts expressed satisfaction at the advance which Argentine breeders are making towards the production of lamb which will bear comparison with the New Zealand product. The Hampshire Down and Southdown were the breeds of rams mostly used to produce the lambs in the test, but lambs of the Southdown cross won all the prizes when the carcases were on the hooks. The first prize carcases were of the Southdown and Bomney cross, fatted on rye.