EXPORTS OF LAMB

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 17, 14 October 1933, Page 8

EXPORTS OF LAMB

Problem of Third Quality

LEAN MEAT TRADE

Good Market in Britain

FARMERS’ VIEWS

Whether or not lambs of a lower quality of primeness than that of Die standard grades should be exported from New Zealand is a question that lias frequently arisen hi recent years. The Meat Board’s rigid policy is that so-called “third grade” lamb's must not bo shipped, but. according to many farmers and others interested in the meat trade, there is a very sound case, both from the view of the supplier as well as that of the consumer, for encouraging the trade in such lambs for which there is a good and growing demand and which return good money to the shipper.

Several prominent Hawke’s Bay farmers expressed the view to a “Dominion” representative that the export of lambs of a grade lower than the limit of second class should be permitted. One of them mentioned that he had recently been shown cablegrams from Manchester and Liverpool and other industrial centres in Britain asking for third-grade lambs. The question was whether they should supply those people with what they wanted, he said. The prices at Home would not allow all people to buy first grades of lamb or other meat. He thought that they should give them what they wanted at Home. “Are these people going to get what they can buy or have nothing? Are we going to say, ‘We will supply what we have, not what you require.’ ” A few years ago, he said, it was a common complaint in the Dominion that English manufacturers would not make motor-cars, tools and other goods to suit New Zealand requirements, and that American trade benefited because United States manufacturers gave us what we wanted. It could not be denied that there was a definite market at Home for lean meat —or in other words —perfectly good lamb that did not measure up to the standard grades of “prime,” etc. Should we not supply this market with exactly what it wanted? He maintained that we could do so with profit to the New Zealand farmer and without prejudice to the deservedly good name and reputation of prime New Zealand lamb.

Good Prices for Third Quality.

It was well known that third-quality lambs were being shipped to England, the Meat Board’s denials notwithstanding. They could call them “light primes” or “light seconds” or whatever else they liked, but they were nevertheless third grades, and it was undeniable that in many cases they sold at prices equal to or better than prime or “second quality." In proof of this the farmer produced account sales for six shipments of lambs from Hawkq’s Bay sold in London this year. Out of one shipment which arrived in London on February 19, some 1350 prime lambs, 3Glb and under, made 5 5-16 d a lb, 730 second quality 4 7-Sd, while 38 third quality lambs made 5Jd. A consignment that arrived in London on June 18 sold as follows: 200 prime lambs, 36/under, 6 3-8 d; 360 second quality, 5Jd; 130 third quality, 5 7-Bd. In the same month another shipment made the following prices: 400 prime lambs, 6Jd; 160 seconds, 6 l-8d; 260 third quality, 6jd. In this case the third quality lambs were the first sold from the ship. Early in July another shipment sold as follows: 830 prime Jambs, 6 3-§d; 850 seconds, sjd; 34 third quality, 5Jd. Later in that month a shipment of 900 second quality lambs sold at 5 3-Bd, c.i.f.e. and 230 third quality, the first sold, made Gd, while from another ship which arrived about the same time, 200 second quality lambs made Gd. and 45 third quality sold at a farthing better. It was frequently the case also that the c.abled quotations from London showed that Australian third quality lamb, averaging about 2Glb. made prices equal to and sometimes better than second quail)y. The Farmers’ Problem.

The farmer said that everyone who had the interests of the country at heart realised the asset to the Dominion in the great reputation of New Zealand lamb, and all appreciated the Meat Board’s efforts to maintain the high standard of the recognised grades. But, as far as Hawke’s Bay, the Wairarana and Canterbury were concerned, there were seasons wlign it was necessary to sell lambs that would not be graded first or second class,. They could not fatten such lambs and they had to be got away. There was a demand for that class of meat, which was generally shipped c.i.f.e., and it did not get to Smithfield either. The point was that such lamb was excellent meat —there was nothing inferior about it in any way in the opinion of many people. It was certainly not “emaciated” and it met the needs of a large and growing class of people at Home. It found a ready market in the industrial areas of Britain and it suited the tastes of many other people who liked lean meat and not joints with an abundance of fat. It was the age-old story over again of "Jack Spratt and his wife” of the nursery tale.

The farmer pointed out that in dry seasons in Hawke’s Bay and other districts there was a greater percentage of excellent lambs that could not be fattened to “prime” grade, and if growers could not dispose of them to a market that would readily absorb them at average prices, then they were faced with a certain loss. Even if growers had to take less for such lambs, thus reducing their all-over average prices, it had to be admitted that half a loaf was better than no bread, and the farmer needed and deserved all he could get to-day. Lean Meat Wanted. Inquiries among meat shipping interests went to confirm most of what was said by tlie farmers. One man pointed out that the bulk of the second-quality lamb was either shipped direct or eventually found its way to West Coast ports of Britain, such as Liverpool, Manchester or Cardiff and met a ready market in the great industrial areas. It was a well-known fact that miners and other workers in the “Black Country” would not eat fat meqt—they insisted upon lean all the time.

Moreover, it was stated ..ot long ago by a trade correspondent in “The Times” that the insistent demand in the modern English home for small joints was gradually effecting an economic change in the Empire meat in-

dustry. This, he said, was the “conclusion to which one was led by a study of the course of events of the last few years and of the present tendency. Lamb was definitely taking a more important place in the national menu.” For these reasons, therefore, there was no reason why the definite and growing market for lamb that did not come up to first or second grade should not be met with profit to New Zealand and without endangering the reputation of our prime lamb.