MEAT EXPORT

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 22, 26 July 1927, Page 6

MEAT EXPORT

"KEEP UP QUALITY"

NEW ZEALAND'S GOOD NAME

BOARD'S FIFTH YEAR

Once again the board would like to take the opportunity of impressing on all farmers the importance of keeping up the quality of all meat shipped from this Dominion. With the increasing competition from other countries it makes it all tlie more important that we do not in any way relax our efforts in this direction. This is an obligation that is placed on every farmer to safeguard our good reputation on Smithfield.

Those are the closing words of the New Zealand Meat Producers Board fifth annual report. It is a full document and covers every field of the board's activities, in New Zealand and overseas. The past killing season just closing may be called a very satisfactory one from the point of view of number of stock killed and the average weight, states tho report. Climatic conditions throughout most parts of the Dominion have been very favourable for fattening stock, with the result that the average weight of both sheep and lambs showed 1 a marked increase over the preceding season, the respective averages being as follow:—

The total quantities or meat treated for shipment to Great Britain, the Continent of Europe, and North America this season, and in the three previous seasons commencing from Ist November, are as follow: —

It is gratifying to note from these figures that last season's record kill of lambs has been exceeded this season by some 300,000 carcasses. The amount of beef shipped in quarters this year is the smallest quantity exported from this Dominion for many years. The destinations of meat during the last four seasons were widely spread, including London, "West Coast ports of the United Kingdom, Antwerp, Havre, Hamburg, Marseilles, Genoa, Port Said, Halifax, New York, and Vancouver. But while the United Kingdom took 5,796/IIS carcasses of meat (including beef in terms of 60 pound carcasses), no other market took more than 32,200 carcasses, and exports to Canada totalled 5432, and to New York 10,422. The. North American. slupmeutSj however, are more or less inaugural in their nature. The great central fact of the export trade, hpwever, is the, quantity of meat disposed of in the free British market. FOREIGN" MARKETS. The board, however;' has been closely watching the prospects of developing a regular trade in our meat to the cast and west coasts of North America, and it scut a trial shipment of light and hoavy lambs, wethers, and ewes to Hali- 1 fax and Vancouver, and made a ship- ; inejit of beef, muttou, and lambs to "Now York. To investigate the position thoroughly, it has now been arranged that the London manager, Mr. 11. S. Forsyth, will visit Canada and the United States next September, and will make the closest investigations with a view to the opening of a permaneut trade.in this direction. The number of cattle killed in the Dominion for export (in quarters) for the past five years is as follows:— Hcaa. 1922-23 season 125,083 1923-24 season 80,707 1921-25 season 114,637 1925-26 season ;:.,.. 43,598 1926-27 season 41,000 THE BEEF PROBLEM. In its first annual report, some four years ago, tho board drew special at-1 tention to the serious condition of the beef industry of this Dominion. At that tiino the hoard was able to secure reductions in costs of freezing, railage, and shipping, which temporarily euablcd farmers to continue running the necessary herds of cattle to keep their pastures in order for sheep-raising. With our decreasing exports of beef it is evident that the raising of beef is becoming unprofitable. Th» board cannot too strongly emphasise the gravity of tho disaster if beef raising were allowed to lapso into an unprofitable industry, as it would have a very serious effect on tho general prosperity of this Dominion. Should our herds of cattle decrease, it will mean the deterioration of our pastures, and our main primary products, which arc tho backbone of tho country and our greatest assets, will bo checked in their development. The problem with which the North Island sheep farmer is faced is that, having grown tho cattle, ho can get no reasonable price for tho beef, as on tho London market ho comes up against enormous supplies of cheap foreign ( beef.'Reference is made to tho keen South American competition. quantities of chilled South American beef goin & on to the British market are 1 having a very marked effect on the values of all classes of meat shipped from this Dominion. The average values per pound of South American chilled ox beet' quoted on the Smithfield market during tho first five months of this year aro as follow:—

Reference to the shipments of chilled beef from South America shows that there has been a considerable increase during the last few years. It may also bo noted that the shipments of South American beef to the Continent have decreased, and with tho lesser quantity going to the Continent a greater quantity of beef is now being shipped to the United Kingdom. THE LAME TRADE. With tho arrival of New Zealand new season's lamb on the market this year tho stocks of frozen lamb in store in Great Britain wore practically depleted, whereas at the corresponding period of tho previous season considerable quantities of both mutton and lamb were hold in store owing to tho disarrangement of our trade caused by the shipping strike: so from a statistical point of view the position was quite sound, and there is no doubt, that tho extremely low price's of chilled; beef seem to have dominated all classes of meat and have affected the values of our mutton and lamb. HIGHER PRICE WANTED. ! In considering the present lower range of values for frozen meat, the important bearing which the current prices of other products of the sheepfarming industry have on the farmer's prosperity must not bo overlooked. Whilst the prices for pelts and tallow unfortunately show a reduction compared with last year, tho prices obtained by the sheep farmer for his wool ' show a slight improvement over last

year. However, a substantial improvement in wool values must yet be looked for before the net return to the farmer approaches the pre-war level, especially having regard to increased costs of production. The average value per pound in respect of the wool sales held throughout the Dominion for the past season worked out at 12.66 d per pound, I as compared with 11.939 d per pound for I the previous year—an increase of just on 3d per lb. It is of the utmost importance to this country that our wool should not lose the goocl nanio it enjoys at present for being free from vegetable matter, aud the board has decided in this connection to make a grant in connection with research work in the control of bidi'bidi. The board has also under consideration j the desirability of undertaking re- I search and educational work on sheep and wool, and other problems relating to our pastoral industry. COSTLY STORAGE. In connection with the cost of mar- | keting our meat (states the report), the present cold-storage rates in London are a. big tax which the producers of this Dominion have to bear. Practically i the whole of our meat shipped to London incurs storage there, and the board I has been endeavouring in every -wav possible to get the rates down to a reasonable basis, but has been unsuccessful. After most careful consideration i it has now decided, if the present rates ■ arc not substantially reduced, to build its own cold store in London, and with this in view it has at present an option i of purchase of a site on the Thames ■ adjacent to Smithiield. Plans have already been prepared, and should the board finally decide to build, this store will be up-to-date in every respect, having the latest appliances* for the handling, sorting, and storing of meat. HIGH GRADING. During the past season the New Zealand Meat Board's supervising graders have reported most favourably on the ! standard of grading at the different works in the Dominion. The work of \ these supervising graders is now being fully appreciated by the meat trade in the United Kingdom (states the board in its annual report). Besides supervising the grading of meat at the different works, the board's supervisors watched the loading of all meat shipped at the different ports in the Dominion; an inspector, appointed by the board, also watched the dis-1 charge of every vessel in the United Kingdom. As a result of that inspection there had been a steady improvement in the handling of meat ever since those inspectors were appointed, so that to-day it might be said that, generally speaking, the meat was now entering the cold stores in the United Kingdom in practically the same condition as when being loaded into the vessels in the Dominion. During the last few years considerable attention has been directed towards improvement in the manner in which the meat had been conveyed in the barges on the Thames and, with tho co-operation which tho board's London office had received from the barge-own-ers, vast improvements had been instituted in that direction. SAVINGS TO PRODUCERS. The work of the board in its supervision of loading and unloading and the improvements which it had been instrumental in effecting in the handling of meat had been, continues the report, in a great measure responsible I for reductions in tho rate of insurance as compared with fivo years ago, before the board came into operation. The satisfactory position which had been brought about by this strict handling inspection had certainly a very marked effect on the marketing of our meat; and in instituting these reforms credit must also be given to the freezing shipping companies; and railway authorities, who had co-operated with the board in carrying out that work. "The board would again take the opportunity of pointing out to farmers and buyers handling stock the importance of the careful handling of all fat stock whilst in transit to freezing works. It might not bo generally known that a great many lambs graded sec ond class were put into this grade on account of bruising; and from investigations made by officials of tho board it had been found that a good deal of this bruising had been caused through pulling the lambs by the wool, particularly in truckling lambs. The loss that takes place from this cause should be a mattor of concern to every farmer."

Ayeraj •wethers lb. Season 1925-26 54.6 Season 1926-27 55.9 ige weight of ewes lambs lb. lb. 54.1 34.3 54.6 34.8

Quarters wether Carcasses season. beef, mutton, ewe mutton. :923-24 322,829 1,019,265 920,059 .924-25 458,549, 1,271,221 953,042 :925-26 215,594 1,223,754 .777,586 .925-27 (to 30/6/27) 162,006 1,291,999 798,079

Pore- Hindquarters, quarters. Average. January ... 3.18 d 4.84 d 4.01(1 February :. 3.50 d 5.18 d 4.33 d March .... 2.62 a 4.65 d 3.64(1 April 2.50 d 4.92 d 3.71 d May 2.47 d 0.75 d 4.11 d