MEAT FOR BRITAIN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27043, 30 March 1949, Page 5

MEAT FOR BRITAIN

ARGENTINE DEMANDS REPORTED PRICE INCREASES NZPA Special Correspondent Rec. 7.20 p.m. LONDON, Mar. 29. The Argentine is reported to be demanding an increase of between 45 and 50 per cent, in the present rates of payment for the meat she sells to Britain. It is impossible to say how the present rates compare with the prices Britain is now paying New Zealand and Australia, as the 1946 schedule of prices, on which the present Argentine rates are based, has never been disclosed, and has been altered by lump-sum payments. British authorities have no means of ascertaining what proportion of these payments has

been passed on to the Argentine producers and how much has been appropriated by the Argentine Government marketing agencies. British reactions to the latest Argentine demands are uncompromising. The Argentinians have already been told that there is no prospect of Britain employing Marshall Aid dollars to pay for Argentine meat, and the discussion is now centred upon a long list of goods which the Argentine is demanding from Britain as part of any new food agreement. This list, it is understood, includes a considerable number of categories in short supply, and a number which the Argentine has not hitherto asked Britain to provide. Reports from Buenos Aires published in London suggest that the progress of the present negotiations is slow, and is threatened by increasing bitterness on both sides—on the Argentine side because; Britain refuses to pay in dollars, and on the British side because the new Argentine price demands are regarded as exorbitant. There is a strong feeling on the British side that the Argentine Government is endeavouring to force the British consumer to pay the £7,500,000 which the Argentine Government recently conceded in wage increases to workers in the meat packing industry.

Reports that the British meat ration may have to be further reduced unless there is a speedy and successful end to the Buenos Aires negotiations are gaining currency.

The corned beef reserve has been severely depleted by the heavy levies made upon it in order to sustain the present ration, and unless substantial replacements are quickly available a further cut reducing the total ration to 8d a week is regarded as probable. It is also pointed out that even if an agreement is reached and the Argentine supplies are not further interrupted it is unlikely that the Argentine will be able to maintain deliveries on the previous scale. The Argentine’s own population has increased by 3,000,000 to 4,000.000, domestic consumption of meat is steadily rising, and production has been affected by the breaking up of large ranches and their division among peasant farmers on small holdings.