Price advantage for N.Z. beef

Press, 31 October 1981, Page 7

Price advantage for N.Z. beef

By JOHN. N. HUTCHISON San Francisco New Zealand beef is enjoying a small competitive price advantage because of the recent discovery of the adulteration of Australian beef, an import dealer reports in San Francisco.

The price differential was the result of a United States requirement that all Australian beef be subjected to serological testing before it could be sold to determine whether it contained meat from other animals, said Mr Ken Bogel, a Borthwick’s representative.

Horse and kangaroo meat have been reported in beef shipments from an Australian company. As a result, every container from Australia is now inspected on arrival.

Mr Bogel said that the test cost of $4O to $5O a container did not apply to New Zealand beef, which was given only random inspection. Mr Bogel said that arrivals of bull beef from both countries were down and that the market showed continuing weakness. He expected Australia to fall short of the United States import quota by 200 million pounds — “they just don’t have the cattle.”

New Zealand, he said, would fill its quota by the end of the year.

New Zealand bull beef at the dock' is bringing about JU53.59 a kilogram, fluctuating from week to week “a penny up, a penny down.” Retail beef prices in markets in San Francisco are slightly down, as are prices of pork and poultry.