A SHARP FALL

New Zealand Times, Volume XLVII, Issue 10838, 2 March 1921, Page 5

A SHARP FALL

NEW ZEALAND MEAT PRICES. REMARKABLE FIGURES. r*R PRESS ASSOCIATION. DUNEDIN, March 1. During the past week or two the wholesale meat market has weakened considerably and prices to-day are very much easier. Most of the large exporting firms have notified sellers that they have reduced their buying prices, and ii* was reported to-day that one exporting firm had ceased buying altogether. . The bead of one stock and station house was asked if the present waterside trouble had' anything to do with the fall in values, and he said it had not. The cause of the weak market, he continued, was the fact that demand from outside markets had dropped! very appreciably. The prices for hides, skins, and pelts have also slumped heavily, and even at the current low values they are practically unsaleable. To show how values for export have fallen the folowing buying quotations 'just issued by a leading New Zealand export firm should be reed with the greatest interest. A comparison ismade, in the case of beef, with the quotations of February 16th—a fortnight ago:— BEEF.

Lambs: March. Ist Lamb up to 421 b 7jd per lb; lamlb up to 42-oolb 6Jd; over 501 b 6Jd; seconds 7}d. Wethers—Up to 641 b 3|d; 64-70 lb 2Jd; over 701 b 2£d. Ewes—Up to 641 b 2fd; 64-721!b lfd; over 721 b lfd. The sharp fall in prices must prove most unpleasant to those farmers who purchased land during the war period at inflated values. 6 What effect thp slump is to have on tho financial and labour conditions of the Dominion a® a whole remains to be seen.

Feib. loth, 1001b. March let. 1001b 8. d. e. d. Prime ox beef 42 6 25 0 Seconds ox beef 37 6 21 0 Prime heifer 37 6 22 6 Prime ocrw 25 0 17 6 Seconds etrw 20 0 12 0