Limit on Meat Board powers suggested

Press, 25 July 1985, Page 21

Limit on Meat Board powers suggested

PA Wellington The Meat Board should lose its wide-sweeping powers and concentrate on looking after farmers, according to a paper which has the partial blessing of the Minister of Agriculture, Mr Moyle. Meat companies have told the Meat Industry Council in a submission leaked to the “Dominion” that uncertainty created by the board's outdated powers was the single biggest obstacle to their industry’s progress. “It is therefore imperative that the activities of the board are confined to represent the collective interests of meat livestock farmers and assist those farmers to produce meat industry raw material of the highest possible quality that will yield them the best possible returns. “The board’s existing statutory powers must therefore be set aside.” The submissions also said that control over sheepmeat marketing should be returned to the private sector from next season. The board has controlled lamb and mutton exports since 1982 when there was an industry crisis. "The events of this season that have led to further stockpiling, and the

accumulated loss on unsold sheepmeat that now approaches $750 million, together suggest that producer intervention is an even less effective disposal mechanism than the former system,” the submission said. Mr Moyle told Federated Farmers at their annual conference last week that he agreed with many of the meat companies’ suggestions but he did not specify them. The companies, through their newly formed organisation, the Meat Industry Association, said in their submission that deregulation must begin immediately but could be delayed by the:® Sheepmeat surplus of 50,000 tonnes.® Need for self-regulation as long as the commodity trade remains important.® Need to serve single-buyer markets by a single seller. “Nevertheless, we believe that the transition can be managed by the industry without intervention by (the) Government without compromising the basic thrust toward deregulation.” To dispose of the sheepmeat glut a special sheepmeat adhoc committee (SHOC) should be set up, it said. This should include board, company, and council repre-

sentatives and accept that market returns for the surplus would be low. The Iranian market should be handled by a single seller for as long as it remained important. This should be an industry consortium which would appoint an agent to arrange the contract. Any company should have access to all other markets but they should function through the existing group structures established by the board. The submission said the key was to treat carcases as raw materials rather than end products. Farmers should choose between producing generalpurpose sheep; rearing specialist animals for particular markets, or specialising in parts of the livestock production process. Companies should either be integrated food processors or simply slaughter stock for a third party. Most meat marketing should be done by companies that market, manufacture, and process sheep and lambs. “In the New Zealand meat industry, such companies will grow in importance because they will offer producers the best and most secure market for their livestock.”

The Government’s role in the meat industry should decrease because the onus to perform would be on individual participants, though Government departments would still negotiate international trade issues and lobby for market access. None of the companies’ suggestions would be possible unless there were a free market of farmers’ stock and no statutory monopolies.