MUTTON AND LAMB

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22593, 24 December 1938, Page 13

MUTTON AND LAMB

POSITION MAINTAINED ECONOMIC COMMITTEE’S REVIEW orsou cum owa corsispokde»t.) LONDON, November 18. New Zealand maintained its position in 1037 as the most important exporting country of mutton and lamb, the Imperial Economic Committee states in its latest report on meat. The Dominion’s trade in this produce represented about one-sixth of the value of her total exports. It comprised 3,500,000 cwt, and, together with Australia, New Zealand supplied 75 per cent, of the United Kingdom’s requirements. The Dominion also greatly increased its exports of chilled beef in 1937. The total was 307,000 cwt, as compared with 240,000 in 1936, while the total of chilled and frozen beef rose from 740,000 cwt to 850,000 cwt. Production of pig meat, however, fell from 958,000 cwt in 1936 to 878,000, and the exports of pork from 605,000 cwt to 600,000 cwt. The bulk of this was shipped to Britain, who received from New Zealand 593,000 cwt of pork, as compared with 579.000 cwt in 193‘6. New Zealand, together with Australians, it is stated, are the greatest meat eaters in the world. The ■ average person in those two countries eats well over 2001 b yearly. Consumption m Argentina is about the same. In Great Britain and Canada average consumption a head is 1401 b, in the United States 1251 b, Germany 1151 b, and France 901 b. New Zealanders and Australians mostly eat mutton, lamb, and beef. The English appetite places beef first, then pig meat, and then mut--1 ton. Germans eat more pig meat than i beef, Frenchmen more beef than pig meat. Neither pay much attention to mutton. World Trade The total amount of meat entering world trade last year showed an appreciable increase on the total for 1936, and the downward movement which prevailed in the preceding nve years appears to have been reversed. World production and consumption of beef cannot yet be determined for 1937, but they were probably even greater than the high figure attained in 1936. The quantity entering national trade amounted to nearly 16,000,000 cwt, and was heavier than any year since 1928. Imports into the United Kingdom increased, and a larger proportion (29 per cent.) of the total came from Empire countries. Germany, continuing her purchases from Argentina and Uruguay, also imported apparently heavier quantities than in 1936. Price Recovery The recovery in the price of homeproduced beef in the United Kingdom continued, and quotations for imported beef also advanced. All descriptions showed a further increase in price during the early months of 1938, but this movement was checked during the summer. The production of beef and veal in Great Britain, which had increased by more than 1.500,000 cwt between 1930 and 1936, declined slightly in 1937, but accounted for nearly one-half of total supplies. The per caput consumption of beef and veal is estimated at 691 b, as against 701 b in 1936. World trade in mutton and lamb increased slightly in 1937, following a five-year period of decline. Imports into the United Kingdom were heavier than in any year since 1932. Production in Great Britain continued to fall, but consumption a head increased by