Japanese delay meat buying

Press, 20 February 1980, Page 29

Japanese delay meat buying

NZPA Hong Kong

Japanese buyers continue to delay bulk mutton purchases from New Zealand against a background of surplus pork supplies and . uncertainty about New Zealand’s future trade with the Soviet Union.

Meat trade sources said that the delays in big purchases were raising the prospect that should Japanese meat processors require bulk quantities, they could find the New Zealand mutton kill already committed elsewhere.

They said talks had taken place recently between Japanese meat processing companies and representatives of the New Zealand Meat Board concerning the industry’s prospective requirements. The domestic pork price had risen a little this month over .prices prevailing in early January

but supplies were still plentiful.

It was evident that the industry* as a whole was favouring pork as an ingredient in processed meat ahead - of mutton. The trend had been encouraged because of the low prices and hints from Japanese Government officials that they would like to see the surplus reduced. Japan usually buys about 50,000 tonnes of New Zealand mutton annually. The trade sources said the market was regarded as a valuable one by the New Zealand meat industry, which did not wish to get into a position in which it was unable to meet the needs of long term customers.

Against the background of steady sales to other buyers, including the Soviet Union, the possibility existed that supplies would be committed elsewhere unless Japanese buyers soon entered the bulk-purchase market.