MEAT FLUCTUATIONS

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 137, 7 December 1926, Page 8

MEAT FLUCTUATIONS

GOOD OCTOBER MARKET

NOTWITHSTANDING STRIKE,

(From Our Own Corrwpondent.)

LONDON, 7th October.

A decided improvement has come over the face of the frozen meat market 'in Great Britain during the past week or two. The change is remarkable as illustrating the resiliency possessed by such a market in the face of .acute industrial depression, and the occasion affords one more instance of a combination of factors resulting in a market development that defied prediction a few weeks ago. Although the butchers of Great Britain in annual' conference a few days back went so far as to estimate that meat consumption had actually fallen off by one-third throughout the country on account Of the long-continued coal strike, even this retrograde step has not taken the life out of the business at the present moment. Frozen meat, indeed, has somewhat profited from the inability of a large mass of the industrial population of England to purchase the ' dearer home-killed stuff on account of the shortened public purse. Mutton, for instance, has benefited in sale from the falling-off in lamb purchase, and frozen meat as a whole has gone to fill the gap that would otherwise have appeared in tho working man's dietary.

IMPROVING FACTORS.

Several influences have arisen during the past week or two to give a muchneeded fillip to the frozen meat trade at this important time. It looked at midSeptember as if we were going to be loft with a rather serious remainder of New Zealand stocks, all likely to hampor prices on the new 'season s market. That would only have been a repetition of last year's experience, and would have paved the way to a third season in which c.i.. buyer—or what thero is left of him—would have faced a prospect of continuous loss on a falling market. The protracted warmth of the summer just ended, however, has kept home stuffs f-om Northern pastures off the market until the last few days, with the consequence that a few more valuable weeks for New Zealand lamb sale have happily remained, and the lateness of the new Australian* season has been an additional helpful factor. Another help has been found in the continued effect of the embargo on European meat, as Dutch lambs would otherwise have been competitors of New Zealand carcasses during the past month, Circumstances have combined to put new heart and soul into the holder of New Zealand stocks, and tho market, although at the moment of mailing a trifle slower on account of prices being raised again, is now on a healthier level, and more compatible with the forward purchases that have been made so far ahead of next season.

SOME CURRENT RATES,

New Zealand lamb, as to the smallest and best grades, now once more stands within a fraction of lOd per lb in Smithfield, and the difference between this .and the Is price attaching to Scotch hill lambs now coming on the market gives the Dominion stuff a good run. Secondary lambi from New Zealand are of slower sale, but are still priced at 9d. Mutton also bears an encouraging report, as the comparative shortness of lamb at the moment is a groat help to the lighter grades of sheep, while at the same time the heavier mutton carcasses from New Zealand feel the benefit of the comparative scarcity of Plate wethers on the market.

Improved prices can now be reported in the fair volume of forward business done in now season's stuff, for October-December shipment. For exports later than the end of {his year buyers are hesitant at present. Australian Victorian lambs have been sold at up to 7^d per Jb c.i.f, for shipment during the last quarter of this year, and during the lait few days similar sales have been made at |d dearer. Australian wether sales have been mado at up to 3 7-8 d per lb c.i.f. for shipment during the next three months, and ewes at 3^d per lb c.i.f. TJie market is a gradually improving one.