Possibility Of Repeating Swiss Lamb Sale Success Examined

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31621, 6 March 1968, Page 9

Possibility Of Repeating Swiss Lamb Sale Success Examined

(From DENNIS NOTLEY in Zurich) Movenpik is one of the largest chains of restaurants in Switzerland, running goodquality eating houses throughout the country. Much of the lamb they serve now comes from New Zealand.

Migros is a large supermarket chain. It, too, sells New Zealand lamb. “But we are out of stock at present,” they say, “because supplies vary. It is popular, and we could sell more.” Other restaurants, supermarkets and butchers surveyed in Lausanne said much the same thing, except for one small butcher specialising in very cheap meats, who did not stock New Zealand lamb at all.

The New Zealand product Is appreciably cheaper than other comparable meats (3s 4d a pound for New Zealand shoulder, as against 5s 8d a pound for home-grown lamb

and, say, 21s a pound for veal, or 8s to 10s for medium size cooked chickens). It is, therefore, in the lower-middle range of meat prices. Lausanne, a city of 125,000, on the banks of Lake Geneva, is in Romand Switzerland. It is French in language and customs and lamb has always been a relatively popular food.

In the German speaking parts, where 70 per cent of Switzerland’s population lives, tastes for lamb are not so well developed. So on a visit to Zurich, it was scarcely surprising that lamb did not feature on the menus of the lower quality restaurants. But I am told that sales are progressing satisfactorily in German Switzerland, too. Lessons Altogether the market created for New Zealand lamb in Switzerland amounts to a remarkable success story. It invites the question: can it be repeated elsewhere? At this stage, the answer must remain a cautious, “We hope so.” But certain lessons seem to stand out on the Swiss experience.

First, we must be prepared to work hard at diplomatic levels, often for a long period and sometimes apparently with little to show for our efforts.

The results can come with dramatic suddenness, and in such cases only the most persistent reap rewards. This was certainly so in the case of Switzerland where New Zealand trade officials had been presenting arguments to the Swiss Government for a relaxatiqn in the complicated quota System over a three or four-year period. Initially, the approaches

were repulsed. But seeds were sown and, toward the end of 1966, they bore fruit. A more vigorous and direct approach by Mr H. C. Holden, New Zealand Senior Trade Commissioner in London, fortuitously combined with two other factors to bring success. Rising costs of living caused real concern to' the Swiss Government in 1966 and the prospect of high quality cheap meat from New Zealand could not lightly be swept aside. At the same time, New Zealand was able to apply pressure in another direction—namely to trade New Zealand’s acceptance of Swiss membership in G.A.T.T.. (with all the associated benefits for a highly industrialised country) for a

relaxation of import controls on sheep meats. These factors were ably exploited by New Zealand commercial diplomats with the

enthusiastic support of the Meat Board and meat traders.

On January 1, 1967, the importation procedure was thoroughly liberalised.

Political Angle

Second, we are wasting our time unless we present a case that is politically practicable from the point of view of the importing country. This is doubly important because of our small weight in inter* national issues.

We cannot bludgeon our way through because of the huge weight of our purchasing power. We must rely on persuasion. This in turn requires technical skill to understand the reasons for a country’s policy, so that we can frame a case for modifications which take such factors into account.

However, firmness of approach has paid off in Switzerland. It could well achieve similar results elsewhere in Europe.

i In the Swiss case there is a simple provision to meet the main problem—the safe guarding of the domestic producer. In order to assure adequate returns to the Swiss - producer of lamb and mutton, importers are required by law to purchase at determined prices the necessary quantity of domestic production at a ratio corresponding to their imports. Because of this provision, some importers have exercised a certain caution in building up the market, as evidenced by the reaction of Lausanne traders. An unfulfilled demand remains and as a result sales may well be capable of further expansion. Developing Taste New Zealand meat is frozen and although it is regarded as high quality, fresh or chilled supplies naturally can command a premium. Thus the domestic (and, indeed, other) farmers who produce lamb for the market can still expect to better the New Zealand prices, although those who sell mutton as a byproduct from sheep kept for other reasons (usually for wool growing) may find it more difficult to do so. But the very existence of our rea-sonably-priced meat may develop a taste for lamb, especially in German-speaking Switzerland.

A trade arrangement cannot be expected to guarantee trade for all time, but merely to make it more secure. In the Swiss case, the degree of security is reasonable. There is some risk that other exporters (the market is open to all countries) could jeopardise our position. But the risk is not very great. Other European countries have at present no, or very small, export surpluses of

sheepmeats, while Australia has so far shown only marginal interest in the market.

A chance remains that other wool-producing countries, notably in South America, could upset the balance. But there are reasonable hopes that our unfortunate experience in the United States Colby cheese market will not be repeated. There, as is now wellknown, New Zealand (with the help of Australia) quietly built up a market after regulations had been relaxed, taking pains not to upset the interests of domestic producers. Other countries, notably France, Denmark and Ireland, then flooded the market, with the result that it has now been closed to some of them, such as France, and restricted to others such as New Zealand.

Prospects In Europe

The men who have played a major role in the Swiss success—the New Zealand trade commissioners and Meat Board officers—are hopeful that efforts they are making in other European countries may also bear fruit. As with Switzerland, the trouble is not a tariff barrier—the Common Market countries proposed tariff of 20 per cent will not be too high for our efficient productions to surmount—but rather that we are kept out of the Continental markets by total prohibitions or severe quotas on frozen lamb imports. Sometimes, health regulations, which we feel need not be so severe to achieve their objectives, also bar us or make entry prohibitively expensive. The most likely countries where some progress may next be made appear to be Austria, Germany, Czechoslovakia and Italy. But we cannot count our chickens.

If many people in Switzerland now know that “N.Z.” means “Nouvelle-Zelande,” it simply reflects the extent to which a market for New Zealand lamb has become established. DENNIS NOTLEY looks at whether the success story might be repeated elsewhere.