IMPORTS OF MEAT.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20690, 12 April 1929, Page 13

IMPORTS OF MEAT.

POSITION OF PORK. THE LAMB TRADE. WORLD'S PREMIER POSITION. (From Our. Own Correspondent.) LONDON, March 8. The Statist has been publishing a series of articles on “ Problems of British Agriculture.” In No. 5 it is said that pork has to contend with less competition from foreign imports than any other important class of meat produced in Great Britain. Frozen pork has never formed more than a small proportion of- the total pork consumption, while chilled pork lias been imported only in insignificant quantities. Holland supplied over 00 per cent, of the imports of fresh pork before the war, and the increase in aggregate supplies imported in post-war years was almost wholly a result of the expansion in the Dutch export trade. Since the imposition of the embargo in 1926 on imports of fresh and refrigerated pork carcasses from Continental sources as a preventive measure against the introduction of foot-and-mouth disease, imported supplies of fresh . pork have come solely from the Irish Free State. A large portion of supplies from the latter country consist, however, of purchases by Northern Ireland for conversion into bacon, so that a large undeveloped market for pork undoubtedly exists in Great Britain. The market is, at present, sheltered from foreign competition, and could, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, be successfully exploited by the Home producer, provided two main conditions were fulfilled. The producer, on the one hand, must study the demand of the consumer, and his preferences for lean meat, small joints, and a high standard of quality. Attention to these points enabled .the Netherlands to capture, in a few years three-fourths of the pork trade of the London market, the largest and, for standardised quality, the most exacting market in Great Britain, On the other' hand, the distributor must see to the efficient and economical assembling and distribution of supplies and, more important still, stimulate consumer-demand by skilful technique and up-to-date business methods. Fork and pork products could certainly occupy a more important place in the dietary of the British people. NEW ZEALAND LAMB, Great Britain is more self-supporting in mutton and lamb than pig meat. The Empire, too, is more nearly self-sufficient in inutton and lamb than in any other class of meat. Imports of fresh mutton are relatively insignificant, amounting last year to only £117,800, and representing almost entirely imports of fat sheep from the Irish Free State. Supplies fi om New Zealand have shown a, progressive increase in recent years while those from Australia, on the other hand, show a steady decline. In Australia, sheep arc bred largolv for wool and consequently, though that country Ims between three and four times as many sheep as New Zealand, its exports of mutton and lamb to Great Britain average only about one, fifth of those from New Zealand. New Zealand, because of its climatic and other natural advantages, holds the world's premier position as an'exporter of land), its mutton and lamb, by reason of their high quality and reliable grading, command the highest price and meet the most regular demand of nnv imported supplies on our market. The formation of the New Zealand Meat Producers’ Board is of considerable interest as an attempt on the part of producers to control the marketing of their produce. The immediate cause of its formation was the slump in prices durum 1021. The main function of the hoard is to regulate supplies from New Zealand to British ports so as to-prevent temporary gluts and shortages, but its greatest service to the producer lias probably boon in connection with (lie ''lading of supplies. °