LAMBS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2817, 11 March 1908, Page 8

LAMBS.

Arrivals during the past two weeks amount to 195,480 carcases from Australia, 3,357 carcases from New Zealand, and 7177 carcases from the River Plate. Included in the small arrivals from New Zealand have been a few new season's lambs, which although lacking much in point of quality - realised in the neighbourhood of 6d to 6Jd per lb at Smithfield. The bulk of the New Zealand! lambs now being offered have been stored for some time, but in spite of cold weather during the greater part of the fortnight, they are going into consumption more freely* at the following quotations: — Prime Canter burys. 28-361b, sgd ; 3G-421b. sid; 42-501b, 64d. Southlands are realising Jd to Jd voider these prices. The arrivals from Australia are con- ! siderably in excess of present requirements, ' and large quantities are going into stoic. ' Holders are still •endeavouring to olear parcels of plain secondary lambs, but the demand for this description at present is so , very limited that it is extremely difficult to ' effect sales, even at reduced prices. Good quality lambs, however, nxeet with fair inquiry, and values for this description keep firm. Heavy and nie&iuin weights are now principally in request, and command a slight premmm in price over light weight carcas-es. the demand for the latter being very limited. Quotations for Australian lambs are as follows : — Prime quality, 4|d to sd ; seconds, 4Jd to 4gd ; inferior, 3Jd to 4d. I have had a chat with Mr Goodwin, of Messrs Wedder and Co., Londoq, and ho tells me that the River Plate people keep pushing their mutton, and are apparently content with less than 3d per lb. It is thus difficult for holders of New Zealand mutton a* any time to raise prices, as the River Plate meat, although not so good as soim of the New Zealand meat, is good enough for the trade at the price. As the American Trust have got a firm hold of a part of the River Plate shipments, it appears as if their influence was already felt. The London correspondent of the Pastoralists' Review, writing on November 8 last, forecasted this, and said : The featrire of late ha-s been the weakness of Plate mutton. With a nominal market price of 3Jd for best light sheep, a line of 20,000 or so could be easity bought for 3d. North. Island sheep, priced at about Sid, are strongly affected by this weakness of the ' Plate article, a weakness undoubtedly brought about by the competition of the companies. Swifts, having the La Plata works, are bound to get a share in the mutton trad© here, and New Zealand mutton in consequence will have to oe content with a lessened price for her meat. The same writer says : Argentine mutton has been sold cheap, owing to competition. No desire to work with the New Zealand holders so as to keep , up values has been shown. Argentina is i now sending forward very good mutton. And what is more, large business is being done at 3d per lb— this for excellent quality. Will this pay? I asked this of the head representative of a leading colonial firm, doing business at Smithfield. He considered that it would. Swifts, since they went to the Argentine, had brought the purchasing price down to the neighbourhood of 2Jd per lb; they appeared to have gone to the root of the matter, and were buying_their live stock now at a price which left a margin of profit. The same conditions would have to be . met in the colonies, proceeded the gentleman, whose name, were I at liberty to state it, would carry great weight. "Prices of live stock in Australasia," he said, "were far beyond London . market values, especially as all by-products had suffered such an inxmenge fall." In pelts alone there has been a drop of 40 per cent, to 50 per cent., and it is I scarcely possible to make sales even at that i reduced value. In wool there has been a, drop, and ever since .the last sales in December it has fallen Id per lb. Taken all round, tallow has fallen £3 to £4 per ton— that is, taken from the highest point, and ssoa-p-makers are still groaning that the figure is too high yet; with tallow at the price it is they cannot make ends meet, nor can they, in face of competition, reduce I either price or weight of package. Altogether the gentleman I am qiioting says colonial growers must prepare for a very much lower range of prices than have existed for the last two or three yearE. They would not like it. , They would not realise that such a change had taken place in the last three months. • But they would have to. The change, he thought, had been brought about by the American crisis and the altered condition of things in the Argentine. He put the latter down to improved' management in the conduct of the South American freezing works. The Australian and New Zealand! grower had, he said, been "getting the whole of the cream" ; now the grower would have to realise the true value of his article. Of course, when by-products were at such a high price a margin of profit on the meat was allowed, but when profit was off all the byproducts the profit entirely disappeared. I notice this writer says no desire haa been shown by the Argentine people to unite with New Zealand holders to keep up values. If we had some organisation of , New Zealand meat companies or consignees some such arrangement might be possible, but evidently those engaged in the frozen meat trade in New Zealand do not see any need for such an organisation. They prefer to paddle their own canoe, and it is to be presumed they know their own business ; but I fear when the American combine does take the field neither they nor the farmers in New Zealand will be in . a position to compete with the strong, well- j organised American Trust, and there is a. \ real danger of such a trust obtaining such control and power a* would act detrimentally to all concerned in the New Zealand ■ meat trade. What this trust has done in j America already is a greater and more difficult task than that of obtaining tho control of the New Zealand meat trade. All depends on whether it will pay them to do it. If it will, then neither money nor abilifcv will be lacking to attain the end they may have in view. j Tt is already rumoured in London that at the end of June at least two more of _the < River Plate meat works will pass into the hands of the Americans. Mi 1 Gilbert Anderson's opinion, given in London, on the Yankee Trust was: "They deserve their success, because they have followed up their business thoroughly, unlike the colonists, who have allowed theirs to drift." I have always regretted our want of system and proper organisation of the New Zealand meat trade, as my readers know, and I agree entirely -with Mr Gilbert Anderson. I don't expect anything will be done till sheep-farmers' pockets are touched over this matter. This has never yet been the case. Through all the muddling and disasters to the trade and traders they havo always escaped and had particularly good , tineas, and I want them to have good times always, but I fear they may yet — and soon, j

too — have to take_ an interest in this subject and make their influence felt, so that good times may continue. Sooner or later their pockets will feel the pinch. It is quite evident that the butter market in London has collapsed, although the nominal price quoted is still high. A private cable, received on the 2nd instant, reported the market weak at 118s to 120e, and since then it has gone to 116s. This more moderate price may result in a resumption of trada. which during the days of the extreme rates was practically at a standstill. Consumption diminished very much indeed, and the shortage is by this time turned into a surplus, as shipments have accumulated. Thesf boom prices are in the end not much good to produoers, as the reaotion is generally disastrous. Probably the margarine maktrs have benefited more than producers of dairy produce during this temporary boom in prices, for it is evident tho general public went in strongly for margarine instead of butter at the exorbitant price ruling. Trade in butter was, and continues, restricted, and it must be noted that at present our January shipments ar<> only just arriving, February are on tho water, and March yet to be mad<> and shipped; and the same may be eakl of Australia, whose butter shipments are considerably larger than those from New Zealand. It is evident thaf the speculative members of the produce trade in London got very much excited, and lost their heads, over highlycoloured cables through the press of what they called the drought in New Zealand and the awfully disastrous bush fires. No doubt they thought New Zealand was burnt up. This, as we know, was not the case. Locally, prices went up because exporters, calculating on a normal condition of supplies in February and March, had contracted for forward supplies to South Afrka mainly and other outside markets of very considerable quantities over and above their London contracts. The supply during February wa:> far below normal, and they found themselves short of their requirements. Several London firms have already sold their March-make purchases to firms in New Zea'and, so it is evident they do not anticipate any continued shortage. Good rains have come all over New Zealand. Taranaki milk supplies show an increase. Grass is reviving, and as we are not w'thin some months of winter, I expecc supplies will increase and be more than sufficient for local trade. So far as Otago and Southland are concerned we have had a good reason. Taieri and Peninsula supplies of milk are better than last season, and Southland Cheese Factory exports are considerably larger than last season. The cheese market is firm in London, and expect prices during March and April there will go to 64s and over, which will net sonsigning factories about 6d f.o.b. The Ederdale Factory manager told me last week that their milk supply was keeping up well, and their shipments fortnightly remain at some 700 to 800 crates. The reports from other factories state that their supplies of milk are also keeping up well meantime.