VOLUME OF N.Z. EXPORTS

Press, Volume XCII, Issue 27737, 15 August 1955, Page 7

VOLUME OF N.Z. EXPORTS

EFFECT OF INCREASED POPULATION NEED FOR EXPANDING , PRODUCTION (From Our Parliamentary tie-porter) WELLINGTON, August 14. Under normal conditions of development New Zealand’s volume of exports will not keep pace with projected population increases, according to the Director-General of Agriculture (Mr E. J. Fawcett) in his annual report tabled in the House of Representatives. Commenting on an analysis of the estimated volume of primary products available for export from New Zealand’s ports over the next 30 years, Mr Fawcett says consumption of products by an increase in population will have a marked effect on the export availability of mutton, lamb and beef. It is estimated that the increases in butter and cheese will not be as significant as the increases in the production of meaty New Zealand’s dependence in future on the export of lamb and wool is emphasised. A summary of the position regarding the main export products for New Zealand shows the percentage increases in production at the end of 30 years as follows: lamb 79. mutton 35, beef 10, veal 15, butter 33, cheese 18. skimmed milk powder 159, wool 73. By 1983 livestock numbers are expected to increase as follows, 1952 figures in parenthesis: dairy cows, 2.566,000 (1.926,000); total cattle. 7,215,000 (5,202,000): breeding ewes. 37.482,000 (22.963.000); total sheep, 56.363,000 (35,384.000). Significant in the export figures for the respective ports is the expected rise of Bluff in 30 years to the handling of the most wool, lamb, and total meat.

“We need an ever-expanding volume of production to cater for an increasing population’s internal needs, and to earn adequate overseas exchange,” says Mr Fawcett, summarising his conclusions. “We have the land, stock, and knowledge to produce the goods. If prices received overseas for our products tend to a lower level a unit of product, we must ensure that unit costs of production, processing and transport are synchronised, and every effort must be made to ensure that our terms of trade are kept at par. “The internal economy of New Zealand should be moulded on the recognition of the importance of primary industries to the national economy; and so far as is expedient in the overall economy, resources of labour, capital and goods should be directed to the development and servicing of our asset, the land of New Zealand, and to the production from that asset of purchasing power through the medium of sheep and cattle.’’