How much lamb will be sent to U.S.?

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33445, 29 January 1974, Page 14

How much lamb will be sent to U.S.?

.v.Z.P.4. Sta}} Correspondent) WASHINGTON. Doubts about future price lex els for lamb on the British market raise questions again about the quantity of the product New Zealand intends to switch to the I nited States this year.

Meat trade sources throughout the I nited States are optimistic about the chances of selling the New Zealand product at top prices during the year and ponder the quantity it is intended to export to North America.

i It is pointed out that’ iwhile the Meat Board at one [time declared that 1.5 mi!-: jlion lambs would be killed: | for export to the United | States, this did not mean! considerably higher quan-! tities of the New Zealand: |animal would be sold on the! North American market be-| cause stocks had been vir- i tually run down last year. The price doubts which | meat exporting companies I hold about the future of the) | British market are not ‘echoes on the United States: I market by traders involved! I in selling the New Zealand; ! product. '

It is pointed out that the United States sheep and lamb herd fell by 7 per cent last year, at a time when housewives were increas- ! ingly inquiring about the product because of the record retail cost of beef. Price higher In turn. New Zealand lamb was found to be a I worth while alternative to United States beef. The food [sections of newspapers on the north-eastern coast of !the United States, and in I California, regularly printed both recommendations of the

i product, and letters from ; housewives who thought I they should tip oft other i consumers about its cheapness and quality. , During the latter stages of I the year, the price for New Zealand lamb frequently ran higher than that for domes tic lamb — a fresh deve iopment in the history of New Zealand's lamb marketing in America. And although the Anter can sheep industry is consid ered to be a “dying'' one. live lamb prices in Chicago [ rose over the year to midDecember by SUS6.4O to 5U535.30. ) Mid-winter is a slow lamb selling season But United ‘States legs of lamb are selling retail at about SUSI 50 per lb (New Zealand legs I SUSI.I9 to SUSI. 29) and loin chops at 5U52.79 (New Zealland chops SUSI. 69). On the [wholesale market United [States lamb is fetching 82c per lb —16 c per lb more than in mid-November. Meat trade authorities believe New Zealand needs to wholesale its product in the United States at about SUSI per lb to break even. Market conditions suggest, in their view, that profitability is not in question this year

Big le>l The big test will come, they say, when new season's [supplies begin coming on to the North American market about the middle of March, [indications at the moment [are, however, that demand i will be good. Trade sources say there is a reasonable level of forward purchase inquiries. Traders reported today that some consumer resistance had been encountered by retailers when New Zealand lamb prices rose last year above those of Ameri[can lamb. But they believed i housewives were reaching [the stage where they would [find it acceptable to pay ‘prices slightly below the fresh lamb price. A factor they foresaw working in New Zealand's favour this year was increas- : ing beef prices. American domestic beef prices have jumped 25c to 30c per lb at [Chicago over the last three weeks. These price hikes tended to make housewives more conscious of alternative meats, they pointed out.