BRITISH BEEF MARKET.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19512, 16 December 1926, Page 12

BRITISH BEEF MARKET.

A report describing Australian investigations into the British beef

market emphasises again what has been said before about the circum stances enabling foreign supplies to enjoy a better position than beef from Empire sources. The conclusions are just as applicable to New Zealand as to Australia. The chief lesson is that even removal of the handicap imposed by the necessity for freezing Australian and New Zealand beef, when that from the Argentine can be chilled, would be only one step toward challenging the foreigner effectively. The South American producer holds the market because of his be'tter strategic position, but also because he supplies a tj'pe of carcase suited to the market, and maintains a uniformly high quality. It is nothing new to be told that the Argentine scores because the cattle marketed from that country are younger than those sent forward from Australia and New Zealand. It has been repeated many times that the small, compact, quickly matured beast is the one which provides beef most acceptable to the British consumer. The Imperial Economic Committee, which investigated and reported in 1925, said of this situation that it had been "achieved through careful breeding. Even were it commercially practicable to place Australian and New Zealand chilled beef on the United Kingdom market the foreign product would still hold its own be cause of the inherent superiority which it has acquired. The lead thus obtained can be reduced with time and persistence." The conclusion is that a successful assault on the beef market of Britain will not necessarily be assured if improved technique and faster steamers make it feasible to chill the meat instead of freezing it. If the Empire producers really wish to succeed against their rivals they will have to work long and hard to win that success.