Lamb Being Undersold

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31211, 8 November 1966, Page 3

Lamb Being Undersold

Press Association)

AUCKLAND, Nov. 7.

New Zealand lamb is being undersold in Canada by large quantities of Australian hogget which has been diverted from the British market, according to Mr J. J. Fechney, research officer of the Meat Board.

He told the annual conference of the Fertiliser Manufacturers’ Research Association in Auckland that the Australian product was what the Australian meat industry called “lamb.”

The product would be described as hogget in New Zealand, and in Canada it was undercutting New Zealand lamb in price. “This is a problem we are up against,” said Mr Fechney, “and I would not be surprised if some attempt was made from New Zealand to get it rationalised before long." Mr Fechney, who was speaking during a symposium on the marketing of New Zealand primary products, was answering a question about the losses sustained by the Meat Export Development Company in North America and the need for diversifying lamb markets. “The Meat Board is not at

all down-hearted as far as the Meat Export Development Company is concerned,” he said. “The Canadian market has been showing very good returns, but the United States market is much more difficult. “However, we do have a problem associated with Australian hogget in Canada at present.” Mr Fechney said the New Zealand lambs put aside for the North American markets had a carcase weight of 37 to 40 pounds. There was a

feeling that New Zealand might do better with smaller, rather than with larger, lambs because smaller lambs were a more distinctive product.

“The same argument is used for the British market,” said Mr Fechney. “If we put out larger lambs we would be competing directly with the local product. “New Zealand success in marketing has been built on the smaller type of carcase, and I believe that this is where our future appears to lie.”