WORLD'S MEAT TRADE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19976, 19 June 1928, Page 7

WORLD'S MEAT TRADE.

A DISAPPOINTING YEAR. FALL IN AVERAGE PRICES. PROSPECTS OF IMPROVEMENT. [from our own correspondent. ] LONDON. May 19. Messrs. W. Weddcl and Company, in their annual meat trade report, state that trading in imported meat during 1927 provided very few satisfactory features. In some respects the year was even more disappointing; than its immediate predecessors, although toward the end there was an improvement which seemed to promise that better things were in store. Over the first few months of the year the protracted coal strike of 1926 continued to cast its shadow. Later on. the general trade of the country gradually improved; but as the consumption of meat increased, supplies of one kind or another more than kept pace with the demand. The result was that the average of prices over the year was again lower than in the preceding year. Much of the dissatisfaction with conditions at Smithfield, and in the country, was probably due to the almost continuous over-supply of chilled beef. Month by month the figures of imports, and the quantities handled at Smithfield, proved that the consumption of meat was actually greater than ever. In Home-killed meat alone the quantity passing through Smithfield Market was 16,055 tons, or 22.5 per cent, more than in 1926. Comparing the average prices of all descriptions of frozen and chilled meat with those ruling in 1913, it is found that last year's figure was only 26 per cent, above the pre-war level. Increase in Importations. Importations of frozen and chilled meat into the United Kingdom during 1927 amounted to 946,776 tons, as compared with 930,035 tons in 1926, an increase of 16,741 tons, or 1.8 per cent. Chilled beef shows an increase of 36.692 tons, and frozen beef a decrease of 29,336 tons, so that in weight the imports of beef were very little heavier. In quantity, however, the increase amounted to 270,289 quarters, the explanation being that the average weight of the quarters received from the River Plato last year was lower than in the preceding year. Although the quantity of New Zealand lambs imported was the largest for many years, the quality of many of them fell short of the usual standard. While the smallness of the carcases helped the trade during tho summer, there was a dearth of well-finished lambs later on, and prices at the close of the year touched the highest point of the period, if the first arrivals of the season are excepted. The total consumption of meat in the United Kingdom in 1927 is estimated at 2,048,645 tons, of which* 1,123,200 tons were Home-grown and 925,445 tons imported, the proportions being 54.8 per cent. Home-grown and 45.2 per cent, imported. Pork and bacon are not included in these figures. Re-exports of imported meat, amounting to 23,859 tons, were much heavier than usual, the 1926 total being only 9552 tons. Mutton and Lamb. The total importations of mutton from all sources amounted to 5,574,598 carcases, as compared with 5,605,290 carcases in 1926, a decrease of 230,692 carcases, or 4.1 per cent. The individual totals, however, show greater variation. Australia sent 136.180 carcases more than in 1926. Against this New Zealand shipped 166,245 carcases fewer. . From Argentina there was an increase of 276,245 carcases, counterbalanced by an almost identical decrease from Patagonia, while Uruguay failed to reach the 1926 total of 157,680 carcases. The total of 9,611,170 lamb carcases imported last year is easily a "record," having exceeded the previous highest total by 703,613 carcases. The increase over 1926 was 1,330,329 carcases, or 16 per cent.; but was offset to some extent by the lighter average weights of the carcases. Australian shipments were smaller by 354,887 carcases, but from all the other sources of supply heavily augmented shipments were received. New Zealand, with an increase of 364,277 carcases, for the first time exceeded the five million mark. Argentina had a large increase of 853.360 carcases, and Uruguay a relatively larger one of 309.770 carcases. Patagonia made a good recovery from the preceding year's drop in supplies, with an increase of 142,634 carcases. Decrease in Frozen Beef. Another considerable falling-off in arrivals of frozen beef lias to be recorded, the total of 986,346 quarters imported being 544,850 quarters, or 35.6 per cent, smaller than the 1926 total of 1,531,196 quarters. The heaviest decrease was in respect of Australian shipments, which declined by 275,864 quarters, but New Zealand's drop from 267,068 quarters to 131.060 quarters was perhaps more significant. From Argentina there was a comparatively small decrease of 48,084 quarters. Uruguay shipped to this country only 34.747 quarters, against 117,470 quarters in 1926. Importations of chilled beef during the year amounted to 6.585,429 quarters in 1926, an increase of 815,139 quarters, or 14.1 per cent. NEW ZEALAND MEAT. AN ADVERTISING FEATURE, JOHN BULL'S BUTCHER'S SHOP. [from our own correspondent. ] LONDON, May 19. Mutton and lamb carcases as an exhibition can hardly be expected to attract public attention. People might just as well look at a butcher's shop. During the last 12 months wax models of lamb carcases have been shown from time to time in the show window of the High Commissioner's Office, but these have ceased to be a novelty. The Government publicity officer, directed by tho High Commissioner, has been in touch with Mr. R. S. Forsyth, London manager of the New Zealand Meat Board, and as a result they have had placed in the Strand window a show which is bound to attract attention. On the right, in silhouette, is a scene showing a sheep farm, with shepherd and sheep in the foreground, life size. On the left is a butcher's shop, tho owner being proclaimed as "John Bull." A girl in green is at the marble counter. Tho butcher in white coat is in the act of cutting up a New Zealand lamb—in this case, the lamb is one of the excellent wax models. Several lamb carcases are on the hooks at the back of the shop. Between the sheep farm and the shop is a terrestrial globe, anil circling this are miniature ships. Artistic placards proclaim the superiority ef New Zealand meat. One reads: "All the best butchers sell New Zealand lamb. See that vou get it by always definitely saying New Zealand lamb." A central placard offers this information: "7,700,000 carcases of New Zealand mutton and lamb were shipped to Britain last year. More than one-half the. supplies was received from overseas." Another reads: "New Zealand sheep and lambs are fed upon the, best English grasses and watered®by pure mountain streams I hat is why New Zealand meat is the best flavoured in the world. New Zealand meat, the meat of sunshine. -