Some meat prices up

Press, 18 December 1976, Page 2

Some meat prices up

I The most spectacular J movements in meat prices (announced yesterday by [meat exporters were increases in payments for five grades of ewe mutton of from 22 to 40 per cent. However, not many farmers are likely to benefit from this surge in prices for just ■ at present freezing works are flat out dealing with lambs, and a spokesman for a major company said yesterday that the pressure to have iambs killed could continue through to Febru- , ary. ' And if any ewes are , killed, a part of the proceeds will be skimmed off into the sheep meats stabilisation or I buffer account. For this scheme the bench-mark grade for! ewe mutton is the ’ EL grade, for which the; 1 trigger price is 30c per ( kilogram. The schedule,j , which wil’ operate next! week, shows that the price i for this grade is 37.5 c. Half the difference will be ■ skimmed off where ewes of this grade are killed. This is 3.75 c per kg, and as a percentage of the schedule price this is 10 per cent. That percentage will also be deducted from the proceeds from! all other grades of ewe mut- (' ton. Exporters have lifted the | schedule prices for EL. EM, EHI, EX and MM grades of ‘ ewe mutton by from 7c top 9.5 c per kg. t An industry spokesman!; said that the improvement I

r was a consequence - of a i firming in the overseas mar- / ket. Recently mutton was in- : eluded in a deal completed) f with the Soviet Union, whiyh brought meat" sales) . for the year to that country ( to more than s6om. Beef was also in the sale- . to Russia, and this market i also seems to be taking on a; ■ more hopeful complexion after being in the doldrums for a long time. Following on a 2c to 4c improvement in prices after devaluation and a further i lift last week of 2c to i manufacturing grades Will oa up another 2c per kg next week, and bull beef up 3c. A writer in the “New Zea-1 ‘hand Herald” said this week; jthat "brighter signs . in ihet : world beef trade are raising.) “(hopes of the New Zealand) '(meat industry for al ■I significant uplift in the mar;ket by the time the ma ; n i New Zealand killing season begins in the autumn.” \While the American market is still not very bright, he sees the likelihood’ of American buyers having to : bid up and become more competitive. , I Apart from the recent deal , (with New Zealand for beef i [and mutton worth SIIM, he ' ! says, the Russians have also ( | signed a S7OM deal with I'2 < companies in Australia to 1 take more than 46,00®>[ tonnes of beef and mutton, s and as well such East Euro- ■' pean countries as Yugos-i)

Mlavia, Rumania, and Poland •[are showing a marked interest in New Zealand beef. • There is a strong possibility ii of increased interest on the , part ot Japan, too. ’■ Because of a firming in wool and pelt prices there have also been increases in skin payments. Lamb skins) u will be worth 13c more where the wool-pull is o.skg, ( ) 23c more where the skin has “ a kilogram of wool, and 34c ■ more where the pull is- [ I.skg. For sheep skins, the) ‘ rises range from only 1c ati ’ two of the low pulls to 20c tat the kilogram mark and ’ 1.05 kg, and back to 10c at - 2kg. ; Lamb prices are un-i i changed. 1 The new meat prices,! 1 which take effect from Mon-' ; day, are: I Ewe mutton.—EL. up to 22kgJ 37.5 c per kg; EM, 22.5 to 26kg,1 35.5 c: EHI, 26.5 10 30kg. 33.5 c! EX, up to 26kg, 37.5 c; MM, all | weights, 33.5 c. Other grades are unchanged. Ox and heifer beef —M: under 140 kg, 38c for ox and 38c for heifer; 140.5 kg and over, 46c and 46c. Cow beef.—M: under 140 kg 38c; 140.5 kg and over, 46c. Bull beef.—Under 160 kg. 52c--160.5 to 260 kg, 62c; 260.5 kg and over, 70c. ; N e xt week, a woolly lamb skin with o.skg of wool on it will be worth 302 c and one with I.skg of wool 557 c. A schedule of prices for shorn lamb skins has now been introduced and it ranges from 219 c for a skin with o.2kg of wool on . 418 c for a skin with a Kilogram of wool. For sheep „„ ns ’. values wiJI range from 338 c for a skm with o.2kg of woo! to 746 c for one with two kilograms of wool.