JAPANESE MEAT MARKET More Participation By N.Z. Urged

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31762, 20 August 1968, Page 24

JAPANESE MEAT MARKET More Participation By N.Z. Urged

(New Zealand Press Association) NAPIER, August 19. More active participation in the Japanese meat market by the sales representatives of trading companies in New Zealand was needed, said the Asian director of the Meat Producers’ Board (Mr M. McSporran) in Napier today.

If exporters in New Zealand were to be fully informed of the meat market in Japan—where conditions could change very rapidly—they .must either have active representation in Japan or make more regular visits than were being made at present.

During the main mutton selling period in Japan this year, apart from those very few New Zealand companies actually represented in Japan there had been no-one from New Zealand especially to sell mutton,” said Mr McSporran.

The Japanese market for sheepmeats was assured and growing, Mr McSporran said. He summarised market prospects as: mutton shipments to Japan will extend until next February with a probable recovery in prices soon: there was an encouraging picture in the lamb trade; but there were no prospects for dairy beef. “The beef required by the Japanese market is definitely not the dairy beef type,” Mr McSporran said. “Japan produces substantial quantities of dairy cattle which assures an adequate supply of dairy type beef.”

The general manager in the Philippines of one of the world’s large meat companies had emphasised that New Zealand should not compromise the present standard of New Zealand good-average-quality prime beef. There were adequate supplies of beef of lower standard from Australia, Argentina and other sources >.t prices more favourable than New Zealand could ever offer.

“Our top-quality beef is re-

garded extremely highly throughout the East. It would be a mistake to make any move to jeopardise our reputation as a producer of topquality meats of any kind,” said Mr McSporran. /Mr McSporran war “very optimistic" about the total mutton shipments for the current season, in spite of their interruption because of heavy exports from Australia. Buyers Waiting While prices would depend upon the ability of salesmen from New Zealand, the market had weakened slightly recently because Japanese buyers were waiting, realising something of the storage problems in New Zealand. With the resumption of normal season’s killing he expected prices to firm again.

Australian shipments were likely to be substantially lower in the coming season, which would mean an over-all shortage of mutton. Reports that Japan might import mutton from China were quite untrue, said Mr McSporran.

Boiled Beef

Foot-and-mouth infestation in China made the trade impossible, although there could be a possibility of boiled beef being imported (as it was from the Argentine) although in very small quantities.

Mr McSporran, who directs the Meat Board’s activities in Hong Kong, Thailand, the Philippines and South Korea as well as Japan, forecast a major market for New Zealand meat in South Korea if the import restrictions were lifted. • “I have had top-level government discussions which 1 hope may lead to our obtaining access to the South Korean market with its population of more than 30,000,000,” said Mr McSporran.