Preference for Lamb

Manawatu Times, Volume 61, Issue 291, 9 December 1936, Page 12

Preference for Lamb

ENGLISH CONSUMPTION LONDON, Nov. 4. There has been a tendency for lamb to displace mutton in the United Kingdom within recent years and imports of lamb in 1935 comprised 75 per cent of combined mutton and lamb imports, against 63 per cent in 1929. These figures are given in a summary, published by the Imperial Economic Committee. j Beef production in the principal producing countries of the world declined between 1925 and 1931, but an appreciable recovery has sinco occurred. Slaughterings of sheep for the production of mutton and lamb show an opposite trend, increasing to about 193233 and declining since. The trend of pig meat production tends to be obscured by the short period cyclical variations, but was undoubtedly upward over the period, particularly in Europe. By 1933, however, the output was beginning to decline in exporting countries and the downward movement has been accentuated by the recent drastic reduction in the United States pig population.

It is evident that there has been a downward trend m beef consumption and a change-over to mutton and pork in post-war years generally, but that, at least in some cases, those tendencies have been apparently reversed within the past two years. In the United Kingdom, between 1925 and 1932, beef and veal consumption is estimated to havo declined from about 70 to Glib, por head, and pig meat and mutton to have risen respectively from 43 to 5Ub. and from 26 to 321 b. But by 1935, apparent' beef and veal consumption had increased to nearly 671 b., while pig meat had declined to under 441 b. and mutton and lamb to 301 b. World trade in meat as a whole declined by about 12 per cent, between 1929 and 1935, a phenomenon largely connected with the restrictive action and growing production of importing countries. Over the past decade the volume of beef entering. international trade has declined, while that of pig meat has increased. Tho increaso in world trado in beef during tho immediate post-war period, when European countries were rebuilding depleted herds, was followed by a downward trend up to 1932. |