Public “Resisting” Oyster Prices

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30709, 26 March 1965, Page 1

Public “Resisting” Oyster Prices

Bluff oyster merchants were having difficulty in disposing of catches because of consumer resistance to high prices throughout parts of New Zealand, said Mr B. R. Walker, chairman of directors of Fisheries (South Island), Ltd., yesterday.

Though oystermen were dredging up the finest seen in years, the ships of the fleet, with few exceptions, were on limits.

Mr Walker said that three of the boats would remain in port today. The others, with the exception of the Christchurch boat Kumea, were limited to catches of 40 to 50 sacks. Yesterday the Kumea’s catch was 80 sacks.

Difficulty in selling oysters was confirmed by a spokesman for a Christchurch firm. He said that unordered oysters sent on speculation from Bluff to his firm last week had. to be dumped because of saturation of the local market after good catches. Mr Walker went on to say there was more than a strong possibility that the Bluff merchants would attempt to get retailers to lower prices and accept a smaller mark-up which would result in an increased turn-over.

Retailers’ Attitude The merchants wanted to increase New Zealand’s oyster consumption. They considered the greatest barrier to this was in getting retailers, especially in the North Island, where oysters in places were selling around 4s a dozen, to sell at reasonable prices. “The entire industry has been working on an economy of shortage and high prices for so long that it does not take easily to the idea behind supermarkets of lower prices and greater turn-over,” he said. Mr Walker said that two years ago merchants decided not to send up oysters in the shell but to initiate throughout the country the trend of tinned oysters.

Then a group of Christchurch men formed Fisheries (South Island), Ltd., and bought the Kumea, which started operating at Bluff last season. All the Kumea’s catch was sent to Christchurch, and prices dropped from a maximum of about 3s 6d a dozen to 2s 3d. The price is the »ame this season.

During the first four weeks of this season 1600 sacks from the Kumea have been consumed. Three other wholesalers have sold locally about another 1300 sacks; The fourth wholesaler, Fish Processing Ltd., refused to make its figures public, saying they were not of public interest. Mr Walker said it was high time merchants and retailers all over the country cooperated in a nation-wide campaign to increase oyster consumption and at the same time brought prices down to the realistic level that Christchurch had initiated.