HOME MARKETS.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 225, 23 September 1929, Page 4

HOME MARKETS.

POSITION OF MEAT TRADE.

BUSINESS MAN'S IMPRESSIONS

Mr. W. H. E. Flint, manager of Borthwick and Sons, Ltd., returned to Christchurch last week from a business trip to England. To a "Christchurch Times" reporter Mr. Flint said that when he was in the Homeland the trade was passing through one of its fluctuating periods with prices showing a downward tendency. A similar condition was also apparent elsewhera, and with wool prices still falling, tallow going through a period of depression., and hides and skins getting a poor reception in Bermondsay, the outlook was not as promising as it might be.

Asked if«be thought there was any possibility of increased shipments of meat to ports on the west coast of England, Mr. Flint replied in the negative. London was the dominating influence in the market, and in any case t!i3 industrial areas had little demand for the higher quality and higher priced New Zealand meats. If bigger shipments were sent there they would encounter competition from the cheaper Australian and Patagonian meat. The present shipments were sufficient to meet the demand for the higher quality which was consumed only by a section of the inhabitants o: the big ports.

London was the only market in England where tha demand for imported lamb was sustained throughout the year, for in the north the demand entirely disappeared with the arrival of English beef and lamb.

A slight improvement in the handling and marketing of New Zealand meat was noted by Mr. Flint. The Dominion product, he said, was now arriving in excellent condition, probably due to improved refrigerating conditions on the boats engaged in the trade.