BRITISH MEAT PRICES UP WITH END OF RATIONING

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27395, 7 July 1954, Page 16

BRITISH MEAT PRICES UP WITH END OF RATIONING

Press Association—Copyright)

LONDON, July 5. Rocketing prices today did not deter British housewives from buying in the butchers’ shops, filled with derationed meat for the first time in 14 years.

The shops, which usually close at midday on Mondays because of slack trade, stayed open to deal with hundreds of housewives ordering as much of the best meat as they could buy. A representative of a leading multiple retail butchers said: "Rump steak prices have jumped from 2s 8d per lb to anything from 4s to 6s per lb and the women are just accepting it.”

The buyer of a leading multiple buchers said that New Zealand lamb had only risen by about 3d per lb. A housewife would have to pay 3s 5d per lb for a leg of New Zealand lamb, compared with last week’s price of 3s 2d. The loins would rise from 2s 6d to 3s per lb, he said. There was not much Australian meat in the country at the moment but

what there was would cost a little less than the New Zealand.

The rise in prices is not expected to last. Most butchers today predicted that a lower level would be reached within a week. “It will be the customer who finally dictates the price,” one said. Today in one of the poorer districts of London, the Elephant and Castle area on the south-east of the city, butchers’ shops were empty. The butchers said they had seen the high prices at Smithfield market and had decided not to buy. “This is a working class district and I am sure our customers could not or would not pay the prices we would be forced to charge,” one commented. When butter and margarine, the most recent foods to be derationed, were freed last month, purse-conscious housewives resisted butter, which soared to 4s 2d per \ lb. They went for top quality margarine at Is and Is 4d per lb. For a time there was a butter slump, but now housewives are buying almost as much butter as they were allowed on the ration (4oz a person). Brief Strike at Smithfield Butchers and sightseers jamming Smithfield meat market with cars anc trucks today caused a labour dispute within five hours of the market opening. About 50 meat porters downed their meathooks in the market’s great centre archway because the cars of butchers intent on buying the first “free” meat in 14 years Mocked the main entrances and prevented supplies from being unloaded.

The white-coated white-capped porters would have had to carry sides of Scottish chilled beef 100 yards past the cars to the market. They refused. But as soon as the .butchers heard of the porters’ decision, they made a concerted rush to move the offending vehicles. By 6 am. today, every street within a one-mile radius of Smithfield—the biggest meat market in the world—was packed with cars full of people

recapturing the pre-war sight of thousands of tons of meat freely on sale * , . , British butchers were assured today of the continued efforts of New Zealand’s meat producers to supply quality meat. The New Zealand Meat Producers’ Board, in a telegram to their London representatives, said: "Please convey the following message to retailers of meat in the United Kingdom: ‘Producers of New Zealand send best wishes and goodwill for your success in private trading. Continued efforts will be made on our side of the world to produce quality meat for your customers’ desires.’” Few officials at Smithfield were willing to express any definite opinion on how the end of rationing would, in the long run, affect the price of meat. They said there were bound to be some rises and falls before true values were reached. The market opened to an excellent demand for both Home and imported varieties and although prices for both were high on rates of the previous week, nobody was accepting them as indicative of what might rule tomorrow for instance. Apart from agreeing that prices for New Zealand lamb—seconds mostly—in the

early part of the sale were “high,’ dealers in Dominion meat were noncommittal about future prospects. “Have to be Careful” But prices generally were so high that one New Zealander, Mr N. McGregor, from Ohai, who went to Smithfield to watch the first of the sales, was dubious about developments. “We will have to be careful that prices don’t go so high that New Zealand meat is priced out of the market,” he said. “But of course all will depend on how the market settles down after the initial buying spree.” Two other New Zealanders, also from Southland, broke their holiday in Manchester to come to London for the occasion. They were Messrs W. V. Fraser, of Waimatuku, and J. E. D. Clouston, of Ot&utau, both shoepfarmers. “It is a great day for New Zealand producers,” said Mr Clouston “and we hope to see our meat gain in popularity now that the British housewife can make her own choice.” , , „ , ■ The secretary of the London Retail Meat Traders’ Association (Mr S. G. Ostler) after touring Smithfield, said prices at the moment were “anybody’s guess,” but that the British Government had released enough imported meat to ensure that all demands were met. Some retailers forecast that rump steak and other choice cuts might reach 7s 6d per lb before prices levelled. They said, however, that if housewives united in refusing to pay so much, prices should reach a sensible level within three weeks. A feature of the morning’s sales at Smithfield was the delivery of long sides of beef not seen except at shows since 1939. Each side weighed 4001 b, and many porters were handling them for the first time in their lives.