THE EXPORT LAMB TRADE

Otago Witness, Issue 2850, 28 October 1908, Page 8

THE EXPORT LAMB TRADE

PROSPECTS BRIGHT FOR THE FUTURE. THE AMERICAN PELT TRADE , . HOPEFUL. Mr Arthur Kidman, of Sydney, well known, in connection with the export meat trade, has returned to Sydney, after an extended tour through England, the Continent, and America. He went right to tho leading centres of the trade, and being well known in those quarters, he' speaks with ' some authority on the subject of the exporting of lambs. The- Town and Country Journal reports: — In this business, he says; Australia, has a wonderful future. It is one of the very best propositions that the State has to deal with. The people of England have cultivated a taste for lambs, and' will not took et mutton. There was & ■ certainty that lambs wero going up and i^mutton coming down. On all sides the request ia made to quote lambs. For years to 1 come the prospects were of the very j brightest for good quality, he says. i> One; of the greatest drawbacks to tha ■trade was the sending home of lambs of indifferent quality. Of course, at the present time, with -the market*' practically empty, the demand is strong for anything at all in the shape of a lamb. Many of tho ill-shaped carcases were styled summer • , lamb, which gave rise to a joke in the some time since there were co few av*ilI not. What was required was some proper I system of grading, through a central factory, as in New Zealand. By those means

the English buyers have come to know «sactly what to expect when they go to look at tlte factory's first or second grade, as the case may be. With New South ■Wales one man's seconds aTe better tha-n another man's firsts. There is no uniformity, as each man deals with his <fJra parcel, and grades it as he thinks fit. Th& most suitable weights now are about 331b or 341b, and down to 28lb~ At present, though, as before stated, anything at all will sell readily. It has only to be n lamb — good, bad, or indifferent. "Many of tie carcases never go into the stores at all, *s the market is that bare they go straight from the ship into consumption. It is some time sonce there were so few available. When the rush takes place towards the end of the year, values will ease off, but still they will hold good for a long time, Pr,i©e3 *t present are abnormal, and it is not to be expected that they will hold. Quite recently lambs were sold for sid per ib. About 12 months ago, or less, fihey Would have only niggle 3j-d. It is probable when the bulk is forward that the price wilP, remain at about 4d. At times lately second-grade Australian lambs have man. 3 to within id per Lb of the best from New Zealand. One thing that causes Mr Kidman to oe so .sanguine as to the prospects of the trade is ,that many people jwho Bad no idea what Australian lambs were a few years ago axe now taking to them. It .was quite impossible (some years back to place any orders in -the country villages. Now -that is gradu-ally^.-changing, and • places thai were then impossible are now becoming customers. That now outlook is a- strong factor in making the prospects brifrht. There is -no <U*ubt, Mr - Kidman thinks, -fcitt thai the fut-ure for the lamb export business is decidedly good, and well worth -developing. With regard to the weights that are mostly favoured at Home, Mr Kidman states that that is largely a matter of supply. One time markets will be full of heavy lambs, and then light sorts will be required; owing to their scarcity. When they make high figures there will, perhaps, be a rush, and in consequence a surplus of such sorts, and values will improve for the- heavier weights, and so on. Americans for a long time have been good customers of New South Wales in the purchase of skins and pelts. Wh'sn 3lr Kidman was going Home, via America, the houses there would not talk business for a. minute. They took him found, however, and. showed him thousands of pelts that they could barely give away. No one wanted them at any price. That was tho time when the trade in Sydney was feeling the loss of tho American demand. When returning to Australia, he again interviewed those men, aaid although they -were not so anxious for business by a long way as formerly, still they were not so much off it as . was tho case when he was on his way Home a Jew months previously. They were not. above discussing business, and made a few inquiries. "> Although there was' nothing clone practically, still, there were signs ■enough to show /that the trad© was looking' up a little.