Rise In Prices Presents Problems To Butchery Trade

Greymouth Evening Star, 4 September 1947, Page 8

Rise In Prices Presents Problems To Butchery Trade

(P.A.) CHRISTCHURCH, This pay. The arinudncement that, the quota of fresh meat to butchers had been cut by 10 per cent.,did hot,have any apparent effect on the fat sheep section at the Addington market yesterday, when prices reached the highest levels of the winter. For the first, time since October, 1945, £4 was reached in bidding for wethers, but as. bids of Is were taken, and auctioneers go back lid on the last shilling bid, the pen was knocked down at 79s Id. Ewes were still in short supply and the demand was as keen as ever. In view of the cut in the. quota some vendors might have been uneasy about the prices they would receive, but any fears they might have felt in that direction were set at rest when butchers showed that their limits were as elastic as at any Stage this winter. Fqt cattle were slightly easier, but only because the quality was not as good as at recent sales, and because the entry was large. Christchurch butchers are in an unenviable position at present in buying their meat on an open market. Not only Christchurch, butchers buy ■ at the Addington market, but also butchers, from 'the country, the West Coast, and at times from places further afield. If prices tend to become low speculators enter the market and force values up.

PRICES MAINTAINED AT BURNSIDE SALE

(F.A.) DUNEDIN, Sept. 3. The expected.drop in prices at the Burnside stock market did not occur today. It was previously reported that butchers, dissatisfied with high auction prices for stock when retail prices for meat were fixed, might not compete against each other as they had fixed definite price limits beyond which they would not go. A cautious tone was noticeable among buyers when the auction.began with cattle, and values for the sale dropped generally by £2 10s to £3 a head on last week.