THE MEAT INDUSTRY.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 22 November 1924, Page 13

THE MEAT INDUSTRY.

PRICES IN ENGLAND

THE POSITION EXPLAINED

Some interesting comments on the high prices for -.New Zealand lamb pre,vailing in Britain at the present time were made by a well-known authority who is in close touch with the London market, says the Taranaki Herald’s Auckland correspondent. He pointed out that the whole question of price was ruled by the state of the London market, where the stocks of lamb were negligible just now. tfur freezing ended last May and the bulk of the shipments were dispatched by July. There will be no new lamb or mutton from New Zealand until January. The .present high prices are not really phenomenal, as they were experienced this time last year under similar circum£stances, and whenT-easonable supplies came to hand the price of lamb receded 2d per lb. Although the direct benefit to the Dominion from the current rates is comparatively small, owing to the fact that only, small parcels are being sold, the prices indirectly benefit the producers who are in a' position to sell lambs for early shipment. While it is impossible tp foretell what prices will be ruling when, produce-reaches Smithfield about February the" competition of 20 or 30 exporting firms operating in the Dominion keeps the local price at a very close parity , with the London figure, despite the 'uncertainty; as" to-the state of the .market later. At the same time this phase of the question causes the exporter to act with caution, fpr he is buying at the parity of a purely nominal market at the Loudon end. Argentine beef is being placed On the English market at very reasonable prices and is being sold cheaply by retailers, who make a very good turnover on it. They claim, however, that they handle New Zealand lamb for a very nominal profit and sometimes at a loss, much in the same way as the grocer handles sugar merely to keep up the status of his business. England still is a beef-eating country, a fact which is demonstrated, by the arrival of tome 14,0()Q tons of beef at Smithfield market every week. The quantity of lamb imported into Britain from all sources on the other hand only equals one-fifth of a. carcase per head of pooulation per annum. '

Discussing'the terms of the cabled news l'elating; to the high prices prevailing for New Zealand lamb and Australian beef, an exporter stated it was obviously a political stunt. The percentage of the increases was exaggerated. LamJ> was not 150 per cent, above its pre-war prices- the increase was about 100 per cent. Beef had only increased about 33 per cent., not 80 per cent. It was true New Zealand producers were in a fairly satisfactory position, but the Australian producers were not getting sufficient to cover the extra costs imposed durintr and since the war. The general public did not realise the lieavv expenditure involved in marketing. To take one. item alone the hank exchange in getting lamb to London was gd per lb.