THE MEAT POSITION.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 361, 17 May 1911, Page 6

THE MEAT POSITION.

The frozen meat market is by no means satisfactory, and signs are not absent of the advent of another such season as was 1909, observes a Smithfield correspondent. The trouble is simply one of over-supplies, which have led to such heavy stocks as to cause congestion in the meat market all round. Some six weeks ago the forward buyers of New Zealand lambs, who usually at that time of the year operate heavily for March to May shipments, were found to be reluctant to do business. Since then this tendency has increased, and practically nothing is doing on a c.i.E. basis. These men got to hear of very heavy expected shipments of lamb from New Zealand, and became alarmed. It has been stated that close on GOO,OOO lambs are likely to be shipped from New Zealand during May—-a ship was at that time discharging 158,000. North Island lambs could not be sold, and were being bottled up, while there was still a considerable quantity of Australian lamb, of quite secondary quality, in cold store. The position of slackness was rendered more acute by the exceedingly wintry nature of the weather; with blizzards and snow about, good fat beef was more to the point than a dish of lamb. Accompanying these depressing conditions, remarks the correspondent, and resulting from them, we find a low level of prices for both mutton and lamb. New Zealand, Australian and South American mutton is a good Jd per lb under the level of 1910 at this time, and Commonwealth lamb is worth 3Jd to 4d, against 4£d to 5d last year. The position of the lamb trade is certainly most disappointing and somewhat disquieting, but considering the enormous imports—l,72o,ooo for the first three months of the year, as against 1,391,496 in 1910 —-nothing else could have been anticipated. Selling conditions are a bit dull at the moment, but there is nothing wrong with the "demand" part of the business—it is the "supply" which, being excessive, has upset the trade. Beef has been quite healthy for some time, both chilled and frozen being in reduced stocks. For some reason or other, the Argentine ppople have slacked off considerably, and as the shipments from Australia and New Zealand have been nominal the beef market is firm.