THE ARGENTINE AND THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE.

Marlborough Express, Volume XL, Issue 4, 5 January 1907, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE ARGENTINE AND THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE.

A former resident of South Canterbury, writing from Buenos Ayres to a friend in Chrißtchurch, says:—" I note your remarks in regard to New Zealanders having their attention drawn to the Argentine on account of the rivalry in frozen meat. The Argentine may be competing with New Zealand iv the London market, but there is a terrific loss to the companies interested. The greater part of these companies have 'made freight contracts for three or four years, and they must supply the freight. The markets have gone against them here, and some of them are losing from ,£IOOO to .£2OOO per week. These companies, while stock prices are low, could fling their meat into London, and show a profit. To-day they cannot, and never will, so long as the tendency of the Argentine to go over from sheep-breeding to agriculture continues. The stock of the country is steadily falling and meat prices are keeping high. The companies working costs are also' very high. The majority of these companies hold large tracts of land, and the sale of these at an enormous increase in value keeps the companies going. This cannot go on for ever. In the Brazilian State of Kio Grande the Government has just let a contract to a Yankee firm at .£2,500,000 to open the entrance of the harbour to 30ft. In that State good land costs from, 3s 6d to 20s per agre, and the place has a future which the Argentine never had nor will have."