TRADE OPINIONS.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18235, 20 November 1924, Page 8

TRADE OPINIONS.

INCREASES EXAGGERATES. (•pwaiL to "m xsam.') t AUCKLAND, Noveasii®r 15. J Some interesting comments oa the 1, high prices for New Zealand fcuab gn» vailing in Britain at the present ti»e tf were made to-day by s welt-tose-Wa !\ authority who is in close touch, with t&* vy London market. jk He pointed out that the whole tion of prico was ruled by the state «|j|" the London market, where stocks *§B& lamb were negligible just now. freezing season ended last May and wS| bulk of the shipments were despaUfti||M|l by July. There would be no new or mutton from New Zealand «sf|§||i January. 411,. The present high prices were MfjS l really phenomenal as they were exf«B^S 6 enced this time last year under sim2«ltg circumstances; and when reasonable plies came to hand the price of receded 2d per lb. Although the <lir*# : l| benefit to the Dominion from tfc* <*mm. rent rates was comparatively sffiaa&||| owing to the fact that there w«j# ttJfifi small parcels being sold, the prse** i» directly benefited the producers wfcplfj were in a position to sell lambs : early shipment. '^m. While it was impossible to what prices would be ruling When J**?s2 duce reached Smithfield about ary, the competition of tie SKJ « tmi exporting firms operating in tt* minion kept the local price at*a WBf«' close-parity with the London §gaj*»4fe?||. spite the uncertainty as to the Stat* «t J : the market later on. At the same tiß«,S| this phase of the question caused ttfj% 1 exporter to act with caution, for 6e ""•'tjf j buying at the parity of a purely market at the London end. $& Argentine beef was being placet *|ij| ; the English market at very prices, and was being sold 4/ tho retailers who made a very jew'-p? turnover on it. They claimed, &«!«* #' ever, that they handled New Sea&SsS J§' lamo for a very nominal profit, sometimes at a loss, much in the **•*" jS way as grocers handled sugar to keep up the status of {heir busiaewiK, |y England still was a beef-eating etfa** try, a fact which was demonstrat*|lh«, '* the arrival of some 14,000 tons of tern ', at tho Smithfield market every t»*eii The quantity of lamb imported i*» + Britain from all sourees, on the oSSeS, 1 hand, only equalled onc-fiith of a case per head of population per ***•*? Discussing tho terms of the esw»B news relating to the high prim s*** vailing for New Zealand lamb asd AW* tralian beef, an exporter stated*&•*** was obviously a political stnat- *J* percentage of increases was exaggerate* Lamb was not 150 per cent pre-war price. The increase «a *&m 100 per ent - Australian beef bat »* , creased only about 33 per cent, as* » i per cent. s It was true that the New ZeahusefW |t ducers were in a fairly satisfseS*? „ position, but the Australian P£ *; ducers were not getting " cover the extra costs iaspos«d *M»* ,* and since the war. The genera! ps*&* ' , did not realise the heavy * involved in marketing. To tsJ* •" item alone, the bank exchange » «*** , tiug lamb to London was 3-Sd «er Ba.