Meat Board critical of U.S. beef controls

Press, 1 October 1979, Page 16

Meat Board critical of U.S. beef controls

NZPA Washington! The New Zealand Meat Board has criticised United! States Congressional moves; .0 tighten controls on beef, mports. The board said that Senate) md House Bills were designed solely to protect the! American beef industry —! ‘an incredible move consid-j ?ring the situation in the] ieef market.” In a written submission toj he Senate International Trade Sub-Committee, which' leld a hearing on proposed; mports legislation, the ward said meat import’ [uotas should be abolished! mtirely. “To provide protection to! m industry whose product! las doubled in price in the! ast year would be in■ongruous,” said the board. ‘The United States industry s unaffected by beef imports and is in no need of irotection from them.”

Sources in Washington •aid the board's arguments irobably would be ignored. The three senators who ittended this week’s hearing, ncluding a Democrat Mr -loyd Bentesen, of Texas, he sponsor of the legislation, are all from cattle-pro-ducing states and proponents of tougher legislation. They did not vote, but are likely to approve the imports legislation swiftly and send it to the full committee for action.

Similar legislation already has been approved by the House of Representa-

| lives Ways and Means ComImittee and is pending in the s full House.- t j Both versions contain an s 1 import floor of 1.2 thousand r | million pounds, 5 thousand f {million pounds less than the Administration wants. t Sources consider Congress I ■{may agree to 1.25 thousand • million pounds to get the!; : legislation approved quickly !• by President Carter. The! I i! National Cattlemen’s Associ-I< Nation has agreed to that fig-|t Cure. 11 I! The New Zealand trade!! •I representative in the United | ■States, (Mr D. Walker) ex-i< li pressed disappointment with t {the views aired at this f >{week’s hearing.

Mr Walker noted that rite spokesman for the Administration (Mr Howard Hjort) supported the bill and made no mention of adverse effects on supplying “In fact he made no mention of suppliers at ail,” said Mr Walker. The Meat Board's submission argued that a 1.2 thousand million pounds import level would not provide adequate assurance of access to the United States traditional beef suppliers — New Zealand and Australia. "Population-growth forecasts for the United States alone renders such a low guaranteed level of access inadequate,” the board said