BACON INDUSTRY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21359, 7 December 1932, Page 7

BACON INDUSTRY

INQUIRY IN ENGLAND PROPOSALS BY COMMISSION REGULATION OF SUPPLIES [from our own correspondent] LONDON, Nov. l The Pigs and Pig Products Reorganisation Commission, which was set up in April; has now issued its report. The com mission-proposes a system of home Mini import " quotas designed to afford home producers the opportunity of developing pig production under favoured conditions. I'; is recommended' that, beginning oil July 1, 1933, foreign supplies of bacon should be restricted progressively as the home production is increased. Fanners will be required to make contracts with tho bacon factories! for a"regular supply of bacon pigs of suitable weight and quality. On the basis of the coiltracts registered, imports will be restricted to provide a total annual supply amounting to 10,670,000ewt. of bacon, which was the average quantity marketed in 1925-30. The commission docs not make any recommendation for the regulation of the pork market. It is further proposed, in order to pro-, vide tlie necessary stimulus to home production, that farmers contracting with bacon factories shall be assured a basic prion for bacon pigs, varying with feed-ing-stuff prices, which will cover the cost of production. It is anticipated that bacon factoi'ies will be. able to effect considerable economies in working costs by tbo assurance of regular supplies of suitable pigs. "Matter of Great Urgency" The commission is .convinced that the regulation of foreign competition is now a matter of great urgency and it urges the Government to expedite the passing of the additional legislation required before effect can be given to its proposals. Its aim is a gradual but permanent build-ing-up of a home bacon industry,; £n<l it has avoided a policy that might: temporarily benefit the farmer by causing a spectacular rise in the profis of pig-keep-ing with the risk of a corresponding severe collapse after a short time. The following are extracts from the commission's conclusions and recommendations: —•

"We are satisfied that recent prices of pigs and pig products have been dangerously low from the producers' point l of view; that these low prices are not <o tho ultimate benefit of the consumer; anil that the orderly expansion of the homo bacon industry cannot be achieved unless the relatively high imports of baCon from established Continental industries are regulated. "Study of the effects of the pig price and feeding-stuffs price cycles leads us to the following conclusions That the total United Kingdom bacon supplies should be stabilised, in order to limit the effect of the pig-supply cycle; and that, as far as possible, United Kingdom baco.n-pig prices should vary with feeding-stuffs prices. Expansion of the home pig industry must take the form of increased bacon production, as the capacity of th»' pork market is limited.. We therefore recommend that the pork-pig and bacon-pig markets should be segregated as far as possible, and we make ho provision in our scheme for the regulation of the marketing of pork pigs. General Quota Scheme

"In regard to the quota scheme." the commission states, "we do not consider that fixed or sliding scale import duties would be as effective as a quota system in overcoming the difficulties and assisting the developing of the home bacon industry. We recommend that quotas should be applied to "both home-produced and imported bacon. We consider that the quota should be regarded"* from a-.new* point of view as a "constructive instrument designed to introduce, both 'at home ami in exporting .countries, orderly production and steady -supply in relation to the United Kingdom consumer-demand ancP to ensure stability of outlet and of pried to pig producers at home and abroad. "We therefore recommend that the Quota Advisory Committee should determine the total United Kingdom requirements of bacon, including hams, for each calendar year and, as soon as the volume of bacon-pig contracts ranking for home quota is known, should have power io make recommendations for the allotment of bacon quotas of 12 months' duration to Great Britain, Northern Ireland, and to each exporting country. Each country's allotment- should be reconsidered annually, but the Quota Advisory Committee shou'd have power to recommend the increase or decrease of any import or home quota at any time if-required in the public interest. "Wo consider that the United Kingdom supplies of bacon and hams, from all sources, should for the>present be stabilised at 10,670_.000cwt. a vear.'*