NEW ZEALAND PRODUCE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 17872, 29 August 1921, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND PRODUCE

MEAT TRADE DEPRESSED.

EFFECT OF THE > DROUGHT,

SUPPLIES STILL ABNOEMAL. [FHOM 6lT£ OWN COEBESPONDENT.I LONDON. July 14. A condition which, of coarse, is merely temporary, is having a marked effect upon the sale of New Zealand lamb. Nevertheless, it shows how many factors have to be taken into consideration in disposing of overseas produce. Having got rid of the coal strike, we are m the midst of the most severe drought that Great Britain has experienced for very many years, and the country has entirely lost that -veilwatered aspect which one is accustomed to find in England. European countries, too, are suffering. The immediate result of this is an unusual supply of Dutch and English lamb. Under ordinary conditions Dutch lamb would be selling at -lis 6d to 12s a stone. Owing to the absence of feed, it is now selling at 8s a stone, or Is a lb. delivered on the market. English lamb is selling at exactly the same price. In these circumstances there is very little chance of disposing of New Zealand frozen lamb at, Is Id per lb., which is now being „asked. Sales, therefore, for the time being, have come to a standstill. The unprecedentedly hot wather, too, i 3 having an appreciable effect, upon the demand.

For the time being it seems that frozen beef is not wanted. For primest New Zealand ox beef representative firms are asking 6£d, but nobody wants it even if it were offered at per lb. The nause of the trouble, of course, is the American surplus. "Then, again, the large quantity of Government' beef bought up by Vestey Brothers has not been disposed of on the Continent as was anticipatad. In the end, no doubt, itwill be unloaded on the . British public, but in the meantime it is preventing any satisfactory business being done in new consignments, and it is taking up muchneeded room in the cold stores.

At Smithfield recently Mr. Massey saw some of his own beef being offered at —meat which cost 4d by the time it was landed in England. " I can't understand," he remarked to me, " why they do not cut it un and make it into sausages, as was done during the war When I was here before I saw large quantities of it being turned into sausages. ' The reply, of course, is that people won't buy sausages in the middle of the sum mer They are too risky. Reports as to the state of the pelt market in America are not very satisfactory. It may not be generally known that the majority of New Zealand sheep pelts eventually find their way to Philadelphia, where they are split and distributed throughout the world. Lamb pelts are mainly absorbed in England, where they are manufactured into " roller leather," to take the cotton on spinning machines. News from America i 3 to the effect that home-erown pelts are selling at more reasonable prices than they were a month ago, but still substantially lower than New Zealand pelts. The improvement that was hoped for has not materialised. It 13 ususl to look for better business in the autumn, bat the situation is still very confused.

Germany, however, which previous to the War absorbed a great quantity of pelts/ is now buying more freely, notwithstanding the"adverse exchange. The settlement of the coal strike must naturally tend to improve business in Uiis country, but it has not yet had an obvious effect on the market. What is evidently having a bad effect is the fact that there are large quantities of goods in the hands of banks and merchants, which have to be realised under pressure.