FREEZING COMPANIES

Otago Witness, Issue 3382, 8 January 1919, Page 10

FREEZING COMPANIES

REDUCTION IN PRICES PROBABLE. (FbOM OUH OWN COERKBPONDiJJT ) WELLINGTON, December 30. Some of the farmers in the Wellington district are complaining about the prices being .offered by the ireezing companies' buyers for the season just opening. It appears that the companies have reduced the prices to be Sffered for most classes of meat about id. Less is being offeiw for wether mutton, and the reduction is greater for ewe mutton and lamb. The Gear Co., the biggest in the district, has not yet fixed its prices definitely, and until it does so it may be • impossible to say' with _ certainty what the prices for the season will be. It is admitted by the companies that this reduction in prices is being made, and for reasons which are serious enough. First of all, the costs of operating have increased considerably; wages have risen; coal is dear, and the supply precarious, and most of the works have erected additional storage, vhich will not be necessary after the trade has once r/ore become normal. In addition, the companies are faced with uncertainty as to the markets for their most important by-products—tallow and pelts. It is known that the pelt market has gone to smash in America since the armistice was signed, and in England there has also been a slump. The price for pelts will steady down soon, but the war values are not at all likely to be maintained. There are about 30,000 tons of tallow in the country at preseiit, and there is no news of any great quantity being shipped immediately. Even if the price were to be maintained, the loss in charges incurred by the companies on so much tallow would, it is urged, be sufficient to warrant a reduction in the prices to be offered now to the grower, but there is no certainty that the war prices will be maintained. It is expected that they will di op considerably. It is well known that during the war the high price of tallow has been due to the need for glycerine. Before the war glycerine was a by-product of soap. In war time glycerine has been the principal product of Canada, and America will not take the tallow. Th» Meat Trust has tallow for sale, and it has money and influence in Amercia. In any case, it is believed by the export people here that it was the influence of the trust which prevented the Canadian Government from allowing New Zealand tallow to come into that country. But, most important of all, the reason which has made reduced prices certain this year is that the output from the works must bo smaller. The season opened in 1916 with empty stores. In 1917 the stores were almost empty. This year they are about three-quarters full. With the shipping that is in sight, it will not be possible for the companies to go on at the usual rate for very long. It has happened in other seasons that the keen competition has forced prices up above the rates offered at the beginning ofthe season. This was particularly so in this island when the New Zealand Refrigerating Company opened at Wanganui. The new company had to buy

its footing. There will bo no keen competition for stock this year. The works do not want meat early in the season. Much has been said about the great number of ships to come here in the near future. The Devon, which is now on the coast, but which has not yet begun to load, was announced here as a November ship. The experience of past years has been that ships do not arrive until months after due date, and the big, fleet of which so much has been said, and of which so much is expected, will not be able to give relief to the crowded stores until April at the earliest, and the worst of the crush will be at the end of February.