EXTORTIONATE DEMAND

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26227, 10 August 1946, Page 7

EXTORTIONATE DEMAND

ARGENTINE BEEF PRICES HARD PRESSURE ON BRITAIN (N.Z.P.A. Special Correspondent) LONDON, Aug. 8. A glimpse of the problems that Sir Henry Turner, formerly closely associated with the New Zealand meat trade and now a director of meat and livestock at the Ministry of Food, is having to face in the Argentine, where he is negotiating a meat agreement on behalf of the British Government, was given by the Buenos Aires correspondent of the Daily Express. He says the Argentine is putting the .screws on Britain for higher prices, and adds that every time Sir Henry goes into the conference room in the Central Bank he enters a tough business school of men who know they have the goods'and that Britain must have them.

The correspondent continues that the Argentine has given notice, which expires on September 30, that she wishes to end the bulk purchase agreement made in October, 1944. She is already extracting £8,090,000 more for meat from Britain than in 1939. Meat bought then for 3 15-16 d a lb has been forced up to sgd. These prices do not include freight to England and cost of distribution. To fight this battle Sir Henry has all the best meat experts by his side. Behind the scenes is Colonel Peron, who recently demanded three times the present price for Argentinian beef. He knows he will not get it. But his statement is significant of the kind of terms Argentina seeks. “In theory, unless these two teams of experts agree on prices, we shall cease taking Argentine beef in slightly less than two months,” says the correspondent. “Nobody believes that will happen. If it did Argentina would be rdther more worried than the British Government. They would have between 400,000 and 500,000 tons of meat on their hands in a year. "And then there is Sir Henry Turner’s ace card, of which the Argentine is so well aware that it must be getting a bit dog-eared by now—we own most, of the world's refrigerating ships. The Argentine could not produce enough shipping to move 10 per cent, of her meat. And we certainly would not help her move it to any part of the world but England.”