Lamb ruling not expected yet

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32626, 7 June 1971, Page 3

Lamb ruling not expected yet

(N.Z.P.A. Staff Correspondent)

LONDON, June 6. The E.E.G. was unlikely to pass any common regulation on marketing sheepmeat before Britain joined, said the deputy chairman of the Meat Board (Mr C. Hilgendorf) in London at the week-end, after visiting France, Italy and Germany.

Mr Hilgendorf said that for this reason it was reasonable that the chief British negotiator with the Common Market (Mr Rippon) had not yet raised the question of New Zealand lamb in the BrusselsLuxemburg negotiations.

“French sheepfanners would like a regulation and there inevitably will be one eventually," he said. “But it seems very unlikely that one will come down within the next year, and probably not before Britain joins the E.E.C., if it does go in.” Mr Hilgendorf said that French sheepfarmers he met did not seem worried about the sale of foreign meat in France provided it sold at the same price as Frenchproduced meat. “But the fact is that French meat sells at a very high price and this makes them nervous because they fear that any imported meat would probably sell lower and force them off the market,” he said. “QUITE HAPPY” “I was able to tell them that if New Zealand sheepfarmers were ever allowed to sell lamb in France, they would be very happy to accept a high price for it” Mr Hilgendorf said that whatever the outcome of the E.E.C. negotiations, he did not see any immediate prospects for the sale of New Zealand meat in France, ex-

cept for a tiny quota of a few hundred tons. Asked if he was satisfied with Mr Rippon’s attitude on lamb of “wait and see,” Mr Hilgendorf said this was probably the best course at present. “But we must keep up the pressure and make sure lamb is not forgotten,” he said. "We must remember that, while Britain will be in a better position to fight for New Zealand lamb when it is inside the Market than it is at present outside it, there will not be the same pressure on Britain to argue our case as there is at present.” TURIN FAIR

Mr Hilgendorf said he thought New Zealand lamb had been well promoted by the Meat Board and by Italian interests at last month’s trade fair in Turin, Italy, but that the prospects for sales in Italy were limited. "They will remain limited as long as they keep their rule that fresh and frozen meat cannot be sold in the same shop in Italy, and I really don’t see much chance of them changing the rule,” he said.

"Their original reason for bringing in the rule was to prevent the consumer being sold frozen meat for fresh, and this had some validity at the time. The Italians now admit it is a bit outmoded but they don’t seem ready to change the rule and there’s not much we can do.

“However, the Turin fair was a useful promotion because we do sell some meat

in supermarkets, and in shops that sell only frozen meat, and these stores needed promoting.” GERMAN PROJECT Mr Hilgendorf’s visit to Germany was brief, but he was pleased at the progress of a pilot scheme in Bonn whereby the Germans sell 200 tons of New Zealand lamb in return for Meat Board help with the promotion of locally-grown lamb. “It’s a small scheme but in the content of the E.E.C. and a possible common sheepmeat regulation, it’s a

useful one,” he said. The total amount of meat imported by Germany was being increased each year and New Zealand’s share, now between 4000 and 5000 tons, was also increasing. U.K. PRICES Mr Hilgendorf said the depressed state of the British lamb market in the last three weeks would be only temporary and that prices would rise soon. But he said it would be totally impossible to determine the effect of the levy on imported lamb, due to be imposed by the British Government on July 1. “It will eventually have some effect but so many things affect the price of lamb in Britain and the return to the New Zealand farmer that we may never know just what effect the levy had,” he said.

“The most important factor will be how much the price of beef, which has its own separate levy scheme, rises, and how much people swing to lamb.” SALES AIM

Mr Hilgendorf said he had not entered any arguments on whether Britain should enter the Common Market, and his only concern had been to ensure continuing sales of New Zealand meat

in Europe. “But I think it is clear to everyone that a poor Britain is no good to the New Zealand sheepfarmer.” he said.

Mr Hilgendorf has spoken with officials of the British Conference Shipping Lines. However, he has not entered negotiations as these will be begun next month by the board's chairman (Sir John Ormond).