FAT LAMB EXPORT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22046, 28 February 1935, Page 11

FAT LAMB EXPORT

EQUALLING NEW ZEALAND AUSTRALIAN EXPERT'S HOPE SYDNEY, Feb. 27 Mr. J. M. Coleman, senior assistant sheep and wool instructor of the Department of Agriculture, who recently returned from a tour of New Zealand, says he thinks that within 10 years the fat lamb export trade of New South Wales will be on equal footing with that of New Zealand and able to compete with it successfully in every respect.

The successful development of the fat lamb trade in New Zealand is generally regarded in Australia with admiration mixed with envy. Australia previously paid greater attention' to the wool-production side of the sheep industry and only recently hafe attention been given to the industry from a dual-purpose point of view. The cablegram does not make it clear whether an advance in quantity or quality is aimed at in New South Wales, or whether the State hopes to achieve equality with New Zealand in both respects. New Zealand is by far the heaviest supplier of lambs to Great Britain, the imports for 1933 being as follows: — New Zealand- 8,875,314 carcases; Australia, 3,380,301 carcases; South America, 4,467,767 carcases. Total imports from all countries were 16,790,560 carcases, so the Dominion supplies more than half the total trade.

As to quality, New Zealand prime lamb has an assured price advantage on the London market. The latest top prices quoted were : —New Zealand, 7d per pound; Australia, 6 3-8 d; Argintina, 6sd.