MEAT POSITION IN FRANCE

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 131, 26 February 1921, Page 8

MEAT POSITION IN FRANCE

"WORST IT HAS EATER BEEN." Messrs. M. A. Eliott and Co-, of Palmerston North, have just received from a Paris correspondent a letter, dated January G, 1921. In the course of his remarks on the meat position, the corresuondent writes: — "The meat situation in this country is the worst, at the present moment, than it has ever been so far as producers are concerned- Prices are full to the. brim. The consumption of meat in France has dropped 30 per cent, in, the last sixty days. The only cause we can think of is that money conditions are ten high; that people are living upon cheaper food than meat, because they certainly are not buying. We are passing through a very hard financial situation. Tho banks are holding credits, and are calling in every penny they possibly can. Exchange to-day here is over 17 francs to the dollar, and over G 1 francs to tho £l, so that you can see that this is enough to stop business. Importations are practically all at a standstill, outside of foodstuffs, and nobody seems to know exactly when this situation will get better. My own opinion is that we will not have much better business for at least three months. I was in England about ten days ago, and tho situation there is not much better. Even bankers cannot express an opinion as to when conditions will get easier. Everyi body is afraid to touch any business, and we will hava- to sit tight and await developments. It looks to mens if the interests which a big meat firm have acquired here, as well as in New Zealand, are going to bo a trust in themselves. At tho present moment they practically control the situation in France on account of their cold storage. They own five cold stores, with a capacity' of 17,000 tons, which are situated hi the very best ■ ports of France, anil in order to Import anything in the meat line we have to go to them for space. They are a hard combination to light, nnd although I believe they could be bought out in France, I know from a very good source that their French investment is not giving them the results that they expected.”