Board may buy lamb

Press, 1 October 1979, Page 1

Board may buy lamb

The Meat Board will probably buy lamb this season if meat exporters are not prepared to match the board’s minimum price of 86c a kilogram, says the board’s chairman (Mr C. Hilgendorf).

The new season will begin this month. Mr Hilgendorf returned last evening from a vsit to Europe, the Soviet Union and North America. Asked about the likely course of the lamb market in Britain, Mr Hilgendorf said it was still depressed, but taking into account

stocks in store there, the amount of iamb still to arrive, and the present offtake, by the end of the season the carry-over would not be higher than normal. There was no reason why the new season should not begin much better than had been forecast: The carry-over at the season’s close had been the cause of market fears. To meet the price of 86c a kilogram, Mr Hilgendorf said the price at Smithfield would have io be about 52 pence a

pound. Lately it had been about 48 pence, but there was no reason why it should not rise. After saying he was sure that the board would buy the lambs if exporters could not meet the 86c minimum price, Mr Hilgendorf said that a sale had recently been made to Iraq at the equivalent of 60 pence and it looked now as though sales would be made to Iran The North American and Japanese markets were good and the price of beef in Britain was high.