PORK PROSPECTS

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 140, 10 December 1929, Page 14

PORK PROSPECTS

MARKET FOR DOMINIONS

DANISH TRADE; IN BRITAIN

;"-Evening Post;" I.oth December,

The twelfth report o£. the Imperial Economic Committde, on pigs and pig products, just issued, emphasises the great hold obtained on the main bacoti market in the -'United Kingdom by foreign competitors, %ho have concentrated on production of a standardised type of pig and organised the trade in bacon on a national basis. Ninety years ago Great Britain -was an exporter o£ pig meat; today it is dependent on imports for twothirda of its supply. Nearly half the total imports, which altogether • are valued at £55,000,000 a year, consists of bacon from Denmark, in which practically. only one type of pig, evolved largely, from the large ivhite Yorkshire strain, is maintained. Payments are based on weight and quality gn|jes, and all exports are subject to eonsta^ and strict inspection. The vast majority of pigs give deadweight carcasses between 1321b and 1581b, lower prices being paid for carcasses outside this narrow range. Bacon so produced is marketed in England as Danish, and not under factory brands. It is all of the mild cured type, and a very regular supply is maintained. EXPANDING SALES. At present the whole of the overseas Empire contributes less than one^seventli of the total imports of pig ; products into the United Kingdom. Canada and the Irish Free State are the chief suppliers. Since the war New Zealand has been developing a very useful trade in frozen pork, both for sale as pork and for curing into bacon. The consumption of pig products in the United Kingdom, though below those of Canada and the United States, has increased since the war by about 50 per cent, in weight and 100 per cent, in value, due almost wholly to larger imports of lard, bacon, and _ frozen pork. Foreign countries have received almost the whole benefit o£ this expansion.

CHIEF FOREIGN SUPPLIERS. In spite of the large size of the import trade into Great Britain, supplies are drawn from comparatively few countries, the chief being Denmark, United States, Sweden, and Holland. The trade from the United States consists mainly in lard and hams, and it is possible that countries in the Empire producing large crops of maize might <:ompete in that trade. ■ The por'flronsr.oCrthei Empire in which", po'ssibiliti&M*tl present-are -most promising are the Irish Free State, Canada, Australia,--New-Zealand, and South Africa. MOBILISATION OF PRODUCERS. The report emphasises that regularity of supply is. essential for a steady trade. "The idea that the top of L the market can easily!," be caught by; ap-'in-ani-put' policy is atf- illusion. 1'- '■.''■■.■' . The committee envisaged "a great problem —nothing less than the replacement oFitha^foreighes; by the Empire farmer in tnft;, iriain ' supply of the standard article to'the British market." For-this standards of size and quality, adequate quantity, regular supply, and competitive prices are esesntial. "The general effect of our report may be summed up in the words — tb^-jmobllisationiof the producer." "The ijigne'fitsj-^OJ^he smal| farmer of a. success-. fill pig industry are so obvious as to justify, •iin/'/our Jibpinibir,, a. great co-operative (jßpri, iniSWing 'the; farmers and traders ofevi&e ;il|wpjre.. jiujd,._ indeed, : the GoverninentT' ' "" ~ \