Canadians fear imports of N.Z. chilled lamb

Press, 29 January 1986, Page 6

Canadians fear imports of N.Z. chilled lamb

NZPA staff correspondent >- Washington

The senior New Zealand trade official in Ottawa will have further talks and provide extra information to Canadian sheepmeat producers in an attempt to allay their fears about imports of New Zealand chilled lamb.

The Canadian producers, specifically the Calgary-based Alberta Sheep and Wool Commission, have been protesting against imports of chilled lamb which began in November after the opening of direct air links between New Zealand and Canada.

Even though the quanti- . ties imported are small in relative terms the Canadians are worried that New Zealand fresh lamb exports could in the long run dominate a market they have traditionally regarded as theirs. New Zealand supplies big quantities of frozen lamb to the Canadian market but it is the chilled meat imports which have upset the Canadians. It has been asserted that New Zealand meat is subsidised and should have applied to it countervailing duties, similar to those gained by United States producers on new lamb imports last year.

Mr Tim Shepherd, the commercial counsellor at the New Zealand High Commission in Ottawa, recently held talks at Calgary with Canadian sheepmeat producers. “They expressed grave concerns. They certainly do feel that their very livelihood is threatened,” he said.

“The producers are examining all sorts of possible action they could take against us, including countervailing duty action.”

Mr Shepherd, who has only recently taken up his Canadian post, said he felt that in part the Canadian concerns had come about because they did not know what was going on.

"We had worth-while discussions. It was the first step in a dialogue between us and we have agreed to talk further,” he said.

Mr Shepherd said he had given them information about Government moves to cut subsidies to New Zealand producers. The Canadians thought that they might be able to follow the United States example but Mr Shepherd told them that the American action was based on a period when there were subsidies. “However they felt there must still be subsidies there,” he said.

Mr Shepherd will provide the Canadians with more information and have talks with New Zealand Meat Board representatives who wanted to co-operate with the local producers. Possibly a joint lamb promotion might be organised, he said. New Zealand supplies only a small sector of the fresh lamb market at present, selling retail packs, not carcases, to just one food chain on the east coast and one on the west coast. Alberta is the largest sheepmeat-producing province in Canada but still kills only about 100,000 head a year. Of those, about 30 per cent are live lambs from the United States. The United States was the largest supplier of fresh lamb, said Mr Shepherd, but the Canadian concern was a reflection of fears of the successful marketing of New Zealand lamb world wide. Mr George Hanson, head of the New Zealand Lamb Company in Canada, said New Zealand had brought In a total of only 400 cartons of chilled lamb in cuts since November 3, when direct air links between New Zealand and Vancouver and Toronto started.

There was only one

flight a week to each of those destinations and limited amounts of meat could be brought in — at most between two and four containers of meat an aircraft “We cannot get enough chilled lamb in to supply any eastern chain for a proper promotion,” he said. Mr Hanson said the Canadians did not have “a thing to moan about” “You would think we have been flooding Alberta with fresh lamb, but that is not the case.” Mr Hanson said the New Zealand Lamb Company would not consider, as was feared by the Canadians, increased shipments by bringing in chilled lamb by sea or on non-direct flights, because there was a danger product quality might suffer. As a sign of its willingness not to disrupt local fresh meat production, the company suspended shipments between December 10 and January 20 to give Canadian producers no competition in the Christmas season. Traditionally, this is one of the main lamb-buying periods in the year.

“That is a clear indication that the N.Z.L.C. is determined to ensure that domestic producers are not ruined,” said Mr Shepherd.