Controls called for on live sheep trade

Press, 23 September 1988, Page 19

Controls called for on live sheep trade

The export of live sheep for slaughter should be co-ordinated by a single agency to prevent the trade from destroying itself, North Canterbury Federated Farmers believe. A remit calling for such an agency to be formed was passed at a recent meeting of the North Canterbury meat and wool section.

The senior vice-chair-man of the dominion meat and wool section, Mr Dick Davison, said there was a need for a body with authority to co-ordi-nate the industry. The Meat Board had been suggested as a possibility. The responsibilities of such an organisation would be to guarantee the quality, animal welfare aspects and prices to producers. There did not seem to be strong support for a single-seller of live sheep. Mr Davison said the trade should not be left to open slather between exporters because that would result in prices to farmers being forced down even further from their present unsatisfactory level. He suggested a co-ordi-nating body would act as a backstop for the live export industry and prevent standards slipping, but it would not be a single-seller. Several delegates questioned whether the Meat Board would be the best organisation to co-ordi-nate the live export industry.

The board’s deputychairman, Mr Mervyn Barnett, agreed there was a need for a co-ordinated effort. It was ridiculous that in a limited trade there were four or five

people competing on a tendering basis, rather than perhaps one organisation obtaining the tender and having it filled by several other parties. The board had no authority regarding live sheep exports so any moves to streamline the industry would have to be done through co-ordination rather than legislation. Mr Barnett said the board was not contemplating taking over the ownership of the live export trade. Other delegates urged the board and Federated Farmers to get together with the live sheep exporters to work out a coordinated plan for the industry. A delegation from North Canterbury recently visited Christchurch Government M.P.s to press the case for the abolition of restrictions on live sheep exports. The Live Sheep Export Advisory Committee had served its purpose and was likely to become a trade barrier for New Zealand farmers, the M.P.s were told. The delegation emphasised the following points:— ® Live sheep quotas were set to protect jobs in the freezing industry, but stock numbers had continued to decline even with live export restrictions in place. © Live sheep exports were complementary to the processing industry; not every lamb was suitable for live export and there was an estimated ■ market of 30 million lambs for the processing industry.

• New Zealand had . the capacity to produce more than 35 million lambs.

Therefore, the more market niches available the better.

© Abolishing live export quotas would help to maintain the size of the national ewe flock so all sectors of the industry could benefit from an upturn in the market.

® The restrictions on live export were contrary to the Government’s objectives of encouraging competition and free enterprise. Delegates passed another remit calling for the export marketing of sheepmeat and beef to be co-ordinated by a single organisation. This followed a long discussion on the future structure of the meat industry. Mr Barnett said producers would not get the full benefits from the meat industry unless they were responsible for processing, and in fact owned the industry. On the marketing side, if organisations were prepared to invest in the marketplace they should have the opportunity to market the product, but originating from a “combined New Zealand export” effort.

Mr Davison said farmers already owned three-quarters of the industry. His dominion executive did not believe a monolithic co-operative organisation should be formed and was quite happy for the various cooperatives to compete against each other in processing costs and market strategies. . But it was not particularly happy with organisations competing against each other with the same product in the same market with the only difference being the price.