MEAT EXPORT TRADE

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 259, 29 July 1937, Page 13

MEAT EXPORT TRADE

Regulation of Supplies to Britain PREMIUM ON N.Z. .MUTTON AND LAMB According to the annual report of the New Zealand Meat Producers’ Board, it is expected that the total amount of meal treated for shipment for the 1936-37 season will constitute a record for the Dominion. “During the season,” says the report, “the board has exercised its usual care in the regulation of supplies of meat going forward to the. British market. This work has been exceedingly difficult owing to the lateness of the season. The excessive rainfall experienced in many districts in the early part of the year combined with a lack of sunshine, resulted in the fattening of stock being belated. The total weight of all classes of meat killed for export up to January 31, 1937, was 230.531 freight, carcases less than the quantity killed up to January 31, 1936, and 677,281 freight careases less than the quantity treated up to the same date in 1935. “From the beginning of February there was an improvement in the numbers treated at the various works, as shown in the total quantities killed to April 15, the figures at this date showing an increase of 296.194 freight carcases as compared with the killings to this date last season. “It was 1' tred by the board that owing to the backward killing season there would be a rush of stock to the freezing works in later months, leading to congestion in the freezing works’ stores, and in ordering refrigerated tonnage it took this possibility fully into consideration. The quantities ordered would have been adequate to have met the position, but unfortunately some of the vessels to load were late in arriving in the Dominion. “In its work of arranging shipments the board may claim that the system lias been markedly successful in avoiding excessive fluctuations in prices and thereby maintaining a higher average of prices than would be attained under conditions of an unregulated market. The alm in regulating shipments is to endeavour to balance them with the capacity of the market to absorb the total volume of supplies likely to be available in England at a given time. “In arranging shipping freight careful consideration is also given to the spreading of supplies over as wide a geographical area as possible in Great Britain, having regard to the capacities of the respective markets. London remains the greatest consuming centre, but great care must be given to avoid overloading this market by allotting as much space as possible for discharge at other ports in the United Kingdom.” Importance of Quality. Quoting the statement from the Imperial Economic Committee's survey that "New Zealand products obtain in the United. Kingdom a premium over those of other mutton and lamb exporting countries, due to the fact that her sheep conform closely to the popular English mutton breeds, to the strict grading, and to the reputation which her mutton and lamb enjoy,” the Meat Board’s report says. “Every endeavour must be made by the farmers of this Dominion to see that this premium is maintained or increased, especially as other countries are gradually improving their quality. Under such conditions of increasing competition in respect of quality'our relative superiority would tend to disappear unless further efforts are made. New Zealand can ill afford to lose sight of the fact that her reputation has been built and maintained on quality, and it cannot be stressed too much that we must maintain that quality at all costs, and thereby hold our supremacy in the mutton and lamb trade of the world. The more prime quality meat we can ship, the greater will be the permanent asset we shad thereby create in the enhanced reputation of the Dominion’s meat.”

, The Meat Board’s report, as .usual, gives a complete range of statistics and graphs covering the Dominion’s meat export trade.