"EAT MORE MEAT"

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 127, 31 May 1941, Page 5

"EAT MORE MEAT"

THE PRICE OBSTACLE

AUSTRALIAN QUANDARY

Unable to ship all its exportable surplus of meat overseas, Australia is faced with the problem of "eating more meat." Here a difficulty has arisen. The retail outlet appears to be too constricted; in short, the price in the shop is too high for many purses, consequently sales are not so heavy as they might be and as some producers hold that, in the circumstances, they ought to be. Mr. W. R. Cosgrove, vice-president of the Sydney Fat Stock Salesmen's Association, for instance, recently stated that "the present low prices of sheep and lambs, though unprofitable to the producer, are not reflected in the relatively high prices charged in most retail shops throughout the metropolitan area." Actually, the volume of sheep and lambs now being marketed was far in excess of the requirements of the local trade. As a result, the producer was receiving much lower prices, but the public were not getting the benefit of the reduction, the retailer in most Sydney suburbs asking as much as when prices for stock were 50 per cent, higher. Mr. Cosgrove said the Minister for Customs had stated that a cheaper breakfast chop must be one of the principal objectives of any meat publicity campaign, and that the Government was watching the price factor clbsely. "The present'retail prices would not encourage increased meat consumption," said Mr. Cosgrove, "nor does there appear to be any desire on the part of the retailer to increase the volume of meat he is selling."

Professor Copland has already taken action in the case of pork and lamb. He is the Price Controller of the Commonwealth with power to fix the retail price of meat. The principal objective is to help to increase consumption and offset, to some extent, the slump in export trade brought about by the shortage of ships. Difficulty in determining how the retail price of meat can be regulated has, however, arisen. It is probable that retailers will be permitted to charge a fixed percentage margin of profit above the ruling wholesale price. Housewives' associations want to know why, if there is so much meat to be "absorbed," the price is not made attractive.