Board likely to support lamb

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33695, 19 November 1974, Page 3

Board likely to support lamb

(\eto Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, November 18. lhe Government will tell the Meat Board on Wednesday whether it can move to support falling lamb prices, and the Minister of Agriculture (Mr Moyle) says he is “favourably disposed” to the board’s proposed activities.

Mr Moyle met the Meat Board’s chairman (Mr C. Hilgendorf) today, and they are expected to meet again later this week.

Mr Hilgendorf said that the Minister’s and the board’s consent was necessary before the meat industry reserve account could be used in any intervention in the lamb market. The Meat Board will meet on Wednesday, and todav’s discussions will be referred to the Cabinet Economic Committee on Wednesday morning. Mr Moyle will see the Minister of Finance (Mr Tizard) tomorrow to talk about farm incomes generally, and lamb intervention will also be discussed. Like 1971 Mr Hilgendorf said the board was seeking, in effect, a repeat of the 1971 support scheme, but the matter of risk sharing had not been discussed. In 1971-72, the Government undertook to withstand two thirds of any loss, or take one third of any profit

as a result of the board’s i intervention. I The intervention produced la profit of s7m which has : remained untouched. The Government has not claimed 'its one -third share. Mr Hilgendorf said the i board was asking, among i other things, to use the j reserve account to support I lamb prices. Evening incomes : Mr Moyle said after the i meeting that he was (“favourably disposed” to the (board’s proposed activities. He believed that from a net income point of view, farmers running a sheep and cattle unit were in a worse position than in 1971. He estimated that a typical income had dropped from $7OOO to $4OOO. But farmers had also had two good years to build up their farms and in this regard they were better off. Mr Moyle noted that a survey began today for a scheme to stabilise farm incomes, and he hoped a way would be found to “fill in the troughs and trim the peaks.” The Minister said he believed the prospects for

rlamb around the world were reasonably encouraging. The onset of the lamb levy in Britain was damaging but prices at Smithfield since August had been quite good. Prospects for marketing larger quantities of lamb elsewhere in the world were also good, but much depended on stable currencies and a reasonable level of purchasing power being maintained. Mr Hilgendorf has warned producers against withholding lambs from the works in (the hope of an improved schedule payment for stock later in the week. “In the event of there being any significant change made in the price paid for lamb after the board meets on Wednesday, this payment would be back-dated to Monday,” said Mr Hilgendorf. Any sudden drop in the killing of lambs around the country would be counterproductive to any benefits which could accrue should the board decide to offer its own schedule of prices for lamb, he said.