Meat levies now; fruit levies next?

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32778, 1 December 1971, Page 16

Meat levies now; fruit levies next?

The United Kingdom, which has already introduced a levy on lamb imported from New Zealand, is now considering imposing a levy and tariff on imported apples. The present plight of the New Zealand lamb industry is a dire warning to the orchardists of the consequences of such measures. The first

of the three steps towards the application of a levy of £2B a ton on lamb has been taken by Britain; and the efforts of the New Zealand Minister of Agriculture (Mr Carter) to persuade the British to defer the second step beyond the planned date, January 1, have been rebuffed. New Zealand lamb is now fetching 5c to 6c per lb less at Smithfield than it was 12 months ago; so much for British assurances that the effect of the levy would be to raise meat prices in the United Kingdom. The irony of the proposed levy and tariffs on British imports of apples and other fruit is that the price of British apples will need to be reduced, not increased, during the transition to full membership of the European Economic Community. As E.E.C. orchardists produce apples more cheaply than the British, they should be able to undersell the British on their own market when all restrictions are removed. The British have won a breathing-space for their orchardists, the Europeans having accepted a system of “ compensatory levies ” for the transition period of five years. To ensure the protection of all E.E.C. orchardists from outside competition in the enlarged E.E.C. a common external tariff will gradually be phased in as the compensatory levies are phased out

The EJE.C. has evidently insisted, in its negotiations with the United Kingdom on this point, that the compensatory levy should apply equally to third countries. As it happens, the third countries are mainly Southern Hemisphere exporters: South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. Their fruit arrives in Britain when the market is virtually bare of apples, so that neither the compensatory levy nor the eventual common external tariff is needed to protect European producers in their off-season. Britain, on its own, could not be expected to negotiate any concessions on this point to assist its traditional suppliers. It is possible, however, that a joint approach to the E.E.C. by South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand, might yet achieve

something—particularly if the three Governments could agree in advance on specific concessions to be offered to an enlarged E.E.C.

This is no more than an outside chance; and in the meantime the Apple and Pear Board and the New Zealand Government must explore possible alternative markets. The recent New Zealand importation of 22,000 cases of apples from the United States was a useful move in this direction; it has been commended by the president of the New Zealand Fruitgrowers’ Federation (Mr P. K. McCliskie). “This can only help New Zealand’s “fruit trading position with America", he said, noting that neither Australia nor South Africa had allowed imports from the United States. If the price New Zealand must pay for getting a foothold in the United States market for apples is the regular import of United States apples in the New Zealand off-season, that might be a prudent insurance against the displacement of some of New Zealand’s present exports to the United Kingdom.