HAM SHORTAGE PROBABLE

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29008, 24 September 1959, Page 12

HAM SHORTAGE PROBABLE

Fewer Baconer

Pigs

Ham will be scarce at Christmas. Before then it will not be plentiful in the shops, and it is probable that there will be a general rise in price for ham and bacon.

One major wholesale firm has already increased its price, and did so not through the rise in wages or other costs, but purely because of the general shortage of baconers and so that it could offer a higher price to pig producers.

Most of the baconer pigs for New Zealand consumption are bred and reared in the North Island, and it is to there that the South Island wholesalers look for their supplies. Over the last few months the price for porkers has been attractive to pig farmers and they have been selling more of their animals for the porker market than before, instead of letting them fatten to the baconer weight.

Supplies of baconer-weight pigs have also been affected by the increasing number of North Island dairy farmers selling their skim milk to factories producing milk products for export instead of keeping pigs to use up the skim milk.

At this time last year there were some thousands of frozen sides of baconers in store. Now there is practically none. The position could change, but wholesalers think it is unlikely that the killing between now and November will be sufficient to meet the Christmas market.

Bacon production has also shown a big drop, but its effect will not be so noticeable as the shortage of ham, as the winter months are the main marketing time for bacon.