PRICES FOR BEEF

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 18960, 10 March 1936, Page 10

PRICES FOR BEEF

CHILLED AT A DISCOUNT AN unusual position For the past two weeks, prices for New Zealand chilled beef on the Smith He Id market have been below New Zealand frozen beef values. At the end of last week, frozen beef was selling up to 4Jd per lb, and the top price for New Zealand chilled beef was 3§d. The position is unusual, as chilled beef usually commands a (premium over frozen. However, at present there is ti large supply of chilled beef on the market and supplies of frozen beef are short. It is stated that present prices for frozen beef are largely nominal.

The state of the market naturally raises a question whether the quality of chilled beef has deteriorated, but it is claimed that this is not so. At present there are distinct markets for frozen and chilled beef, the demand for frozen beef coining largely from the Army .and Navy, and from large institutions in England. Frozen beef offers greater facilities for handling and for length of storage. Apparently, it would pay the beef industry to remember this fact in future. The chilling and carriage of chilled beef is miore expensive than the freezing process.