TREND OF BEEF PRICES

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXXII, Issue 2768, 28 August 1931, Page 6

TREND OF BEEF PRICES

In his book, “Factors Affording the Prices if Livestock,” Mr K. A. H. Murray gives an opinion on the probable movement of cattle prices in Great Britain based on economic investigations he has made in the United • States of America. Though the production of beef in United States has not increased at the same rate as its population, and the exportable surplus has declined, more importance is due, in his opinion, to the marked regularity of periods of ovei> production and under-production, declines of seven or eight years being followed by increases of about the same duration. This phenomenon deserves notice by those who consider the United States as having become a deficit area in regard to beef, and who, on that account, expect a diversion of Argentine supplies from our markets. The United .States, according to Mr Murray, has just experienced a period of low production without removing the embargo on Argentine beef, and a similar situation is not to be expected for at least another decade./ He shows how the trend of beef prices in the United States influences Canada’s export trade in live cattle. With increasing production and falling prices in the United States, the British beef growers' are warned to expect an increase in the shipment of Canadian cattle to their shores.