E.E.C. MAY NOT SPELL RUIN TO MEAT TRADE

Press, Volume C, Issue 29602, 26 August 1961, Page 6

E.E.C. MAY NOT SPELL RUIN TO MEAT TRADE

AFORE than a quarter of New Zealand’s meat exports last year went to markets outside Britain and this trend in the diversion of supplies away from Britain is most ' encouraging, the Meat and Wool Boards’ 7 nomic Service says in its annual review of the sheep in lustry. “It gives ground for the view that if the industry is determined enough, and if costs can be held low enough, I Britain’s proposed entry into i the Common Market need not ruin our meat export trade,” the service says. “Other markets can be found, and after all, Britain will still need to import at least 250,000 tons of mutton and lamb from us, because she can get it nowhere else. “We have reduced our dependence on the British market from over 90 per cent, to 75 per cent, in the last few years: what we must do in the next few years is to reduce that dependence to 50 or 60 per cent.” From records of the last five years it did not look as though British consumption of mutton and lamb would ever exceed 251bs a head—the pre-war level —so that the market would grow only in proportion to population increases.

“Even without the Common Market threat, this is sufficient reason for seeking alternative markets for New Zealand meat,” the review comments. Excluding bacon, ham and canned meats, imports now supply only one-third of Britain’s meat requirements, whereas before the war onehalf was imported. Quantitatively, imports of carcase meat have remained around the 800.000 ton mark for five or six years with the increase in consumption being supplied by home production. “This is in accord with the policy of the British Government which aims at stimulating meat production by means of grants, subsidies and deficiency payments. If total supplies increase at a greater rate than demand the price will fall; this applies both in the short run and the long run.” _ v Following research into short-term factors influencing New Zealand lamb prices in the United Kingdom, which showed most of the price variation on Smithfield could be attributed to the rate of arrival of New Zealand lamb and the quantity of imported lamb held in store, a small group has been set up under the aegis of the service to study this question.