Algeria may become steady meat buyer

Press, 1 May 1981, Page 8

Algeria may become steady meat buyer

PA Wellington An Algerian trade delegation visiting New Zealand this week has emphasised its interest in a long-term meat arrangement with New Zealand, and a meat industry spokesman said there was confidence that Algeria would become a regular purchaser of “a sizeable quantity of meat, particularly lamb.”

Algerian frozen meat imports were restricted at present by a shortage of cold storage facilities, but the Algerian Government had recently decided to begin a major cold storage building programme, the spokesman said.

‘‘Such a development would enable the importing of frozen meat in sizeable quantities at regular intervals.”

The three-man Algerian delegation comprised officials from the Ministry of Commerce and two state trading organisations. Its visit was principally a fol-low-up to a recent meat industry mission to a number of Middle East and African countries, including Algeria. Most of the Algerians’ three-day stay in New Zealand was taken up in discussions with representatives of the Meat Producers’ Board

and the ? Meat Exporters’ Council. They also had discussions with officials of the Department of Trade and Industry. Apart from a. small amount of wool. New Zealand has no present trading export'links with Algeria. Algeria is the second largest country in. Africa with an area more than eight times the size of New Zealand. Since gaining independence in 1962, Algeria has concentrated investment on industrial development. In recent years agricultural production has fallen behind the growing population of about 20 million.

Per head consumption- of meat is low by world standards, and in the past meat imports have not exceeded 10,000 tonnes a year. Most of this has been chilled meat from Western and Eastern European sources. However, the Algerians now appreciate that the increasing future meat demands of the country will be best supplied from frozen imports, - the spokesman said.