THE MEAT MARKET.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LII, Issue 268, 12 October 1932, Page 6

THE MEAT MARKET.

With the beginning of a new meat export season at hand in New Zealand, sheepfarmers naturally are specula! "ng on what is likely to be the outcome of the regulation of supplies to Britain —their chief market—as arranged at the Ottawa Conference, under which full quantities of New Zealand meat will be admitted while foreign supplies will be restricted and those of the other Dominions admitted under the quota principle. Up to the present there have been no authoritative indications as to what the opening prices for fat lamb will be, but it is fairly generally accepted that nothing but good can accrue to New Zealand exporters under the new scheme. What is of major importance is that the danger of flooded markets has been removed, and that alone must play a valuable part in assuring that our meat exports will have less chance of receding in price. The question of the purchasing power of our customers must always, of course, predominate, and it is in this direction, it is believed by some observers of the market, that there is least cause for expectation that prices will rise materially. There have been signs that a recovery of trade is steadily developing in the Mother Country, but with the incubus of more than two million unemployed to face, it will be realised that not until a great many of these are reabsorbed in work can there be a sharp quickening of the demand for a food commodity which is in good supply. On the other hand, however, there is reason for hope, it is said. The exceptionally high standard of quality attained by New Zealand meat and the fairly well-known fact that our sheepfarmers are not content with this but are seeking to even improve upon it, coupled with the publicity activities being undertaken by the producers’ marketing board at Home, combine to make the outlook more pleasant than it would otherwise have been even with the regulation of supplies. Whereas New Zealand exporters would have had to bend their energies further to cope with the ever present danger of the market being flooded with cheaper foreign meats, other than lamb and mutton, they now have the assurance, or will have when the Ottawa agreement is fully adopted, that some of the chief movements effecting low prices are definitely overcome. While a full recovery of prices may not yet be possible, it is pleasing to know that the outlook is much more hopeful for the New Zealand meat grower than it has been for some years.