SUGGESTION FOR EXPANDING N.Z. LAMB SALES IN BRITAIN

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29715, 8 January 1962, Page 13

SUGGESTION FOR EXPANDING N.Z. LAMB SALES IN BRITAIN

The belief that the big increaae m mutton and lamb sale® achieved in New Zealand in recent years can be repeated in the United Kingdam was expressed at the week-end by Mr S. J. Stexens. who has butchery businesses in Christchurch, New Zealand, and Newport, in the Isle erf Wight. Mr Stevens was commenting on a statement from Mr H A. Seifert, a spokesman for New Zealand-owned meat freezing and export companies published in -The Press” on Saturday. Mr Seifert had criticised a tendency in New Zealand to “lecturebutchers in Britain as to how they should conduct their businesses.

" ‘Kiwis stop lecturing United Kingdom Butchers.’ says Mr Seifert in ‘The Press' on Saturday,” said Mr Stevens. "As a Tommie' butcher myself I am sure my meat trader friends at Home will welcome Mr Seifert's support of our trade's aim over the years of maintaining stable retail prices for New Zealand lamb in the face of shandy shifting wholesale trends. This policy has done much to preserve a consistent and con- ’ nuing demand for New Zealand lamb in Britain, creating such consumer loyalty that during the flush of the United Kingdom lamb kill the wholesale price of the frozen product from New Zealand has exceeded that of the local fresh article, which :n other seasons has earned a very high premium. one can hardly blame the New Zealand farmer for his concern at the low average return for his lambs over the last three years. Co-operation "Mr Seifert calls for ‘a spirit of working together,’ and I wholeheartedly agree, believing that the New Zea-land-owned freezing companies. working with the Meat Board, have it within their power to create that degree

of co-operatien between the New Zealand producers and the United Kingdom butchers to ensure an increased outlet for the expanding production of New Zealand lamb at a satisfactory level of rewards to all concerned. "How can this be done? Well, New Zealand butcher* have shown the way. In the two years between 1958 and 1960 their sales of mutton and lamb in this country have increased by 201 b a head of the papulation to a total of 96.41 b, an increase of 26 per cent., compared with a fall in United Kingdom consumption of half a pound a head or a drop of 2 per cent.

“But can the eating habits of the two countries be fairly compared? As a retailer in both countries I would say emphatically yes. While it is true that levels of consumption are at present widely apart, tastes and eating habits are essentially the same and I have proved for myself that cisiting and marketing techniques can be profitably transferred from one place to the other.” "What is the obstacle? ‘Resistance of the butchers to outsiders telling them about their own specialist work.' writes Mr David Reckitt, the man who conducts advertising of New Zealand lamb in the United Kingdom. Answer “What is the answer? Let butcher speak to butcher. Mr Seifert, your organisation should bring leaders of the United Kingdom trade to New Zealand to find out for themselves just how their remarkable upsurge in sheep meat consumption has been achieved, and also send a delegation of keen and capable New Zealand butchers to the United Kingdom to give practical demonstrations. “Make no mistake, this will be no one-sided operation, for I am confident that the New Zealand meat trade, both export and retail, which is conspicuously lacking in facilities for trade technical edu-

cation, could benefit immeasurably from such an exchange. “When I lunched in London last May with the president of the Institute of Meat, Mr Frank Gerrard, he expressed a keen desire to visit New Zealand. Mr Gerrard has been Britain's leading exponent of education in the meat trade for more than a generation, and a* the technical writer and consultant of the largest trade journal, has access to almost every British butcher.

"Enlist the support of such men, harness the interest of farmer, exporter, wholesaler, butcher and consumer In the expanding consumption of lamb in Great Britain, and the success in sheep meat sales enjoyed in New Zealand can hardly fail to be repeated over there." said Mr Stevens.