Americans Find Local Beef Cheaper Than Home Supply

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29384, 10 December 1960, Page 14

Americans Find Local Beef Cheaper Than Home Supply

Supply officers for the United States ships supplementing their stores at Lyttelton are finding top cuts of beef cheaper to buy here than in their home ports, but the problem of quantity available is another matter. The supply officer of the United States Coast Guard ice breaker, Eastwind (Chief Warrant Officer R. L. Barnett) said yesterday that he could feed his men on Tbone steaks in New Zealand cheaper than he could feed them on ground beef hamburgers in the United States. Because of this he had hoped to buy some 30001 b of T-bone steaks in New Zealand on the present voyage, but he was not able to obtain more than 6001 b and made up the balance with sirloin steaks. T-bone steaks amount to about 201 b a bullock

and his order would have needed the steaks from 150 bullocks. “Sirloin steaks are very popular, but I had hoped to get some more variety by buying Tbones,” he said. “We already have about 30001 b of sirloin steaks from the United States. “We have a certain monetary allowance for feeding the men. and I have to operate within this, allowance. I have paid up to one dollar 43 cents for cuts of beef or lobster in the United States, but T-bones in New Zealand cost us 63 cents per lb, roughly half the price in the United States, which is from one dollar 20 cents to one dollar 30 cents, depending on the market,” he said. Early in January there will be about 10 tons of beef and pork shipped from Christchurch to McMurdo Sound to supplement stores there. Most of this meat has been obtained locally. The 10 tons represents the best beef off the hindquarters of 125 bulocks, and one ton is made up of round roasts of topside, thick flank, and silverside. The order includes 30001 b of tenderboy or undercut steak, of which there is only about 101 b cut from a bullock. To make up the amount needed it was necessary to obtain 9701 b from Invercargill. No insulated railway waggon was available in Invercargill, and the beef had to be brought to Christchurch by a frozen food truck. The remainder of the 10 tons consists of steaks, each of which has to weigh Boz. Pork chops are also being prepared and the order for these is 15001 b—equal to the “chop potential” of about 50 pigs. The same number of pigs will supply 100 hams, which will total 15001 b. These are being prepared and cured at present.