MEAT MARKET

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 9 January 1931, Page 8

MEAT MARKET

DECLINE AT ADDINGTON FARMERS SUFFER Canterbury stock fatteners have generally been able to rely on a good local market for mutton and beef, no matter how unpromising the Home outlook may happen to be, says yesterday’s “Press. This has been due to the fact that practically all the mutton required for Christchurch City has been bought at _ the Addington yards and except in occasional seasons practically all the beef. It is this buying concentration by butchers that has made Addington market unique in the Dominion, and has established it as a standard auction.

Judging by yesterday’s run of prices, however, this reputation appears as if it is to be lost to some extent. Big entries of fat sheep met with a decided easing. No doubt the hot, drying winds of the last fortnight have caused some concern about feed, and consequently increased the entry beyond what it would be under ordinary circumstances, but the export prices and the comparative disinclination of buyers to operate except at low values were the principal factors in the drop recorded. Fat ewes, of which the fat sheep class is mainly comprised at this season of the year, were down on the pre-Christmas market by 5s to 7s a head, and many pens of well-finished sheep were sold at from 10s to 12s 6d. Only a few odd ewes made over 16s, and a heavy proportion from 6s to 9s. Auctioneers with close on 30 years’ experience of the market consider the fat sheep prices the lowest in that period. I'at wethers did not recede to a corresponding extent, the drop being 3s to 4s, bub the nature of the market for- wethers can be gauged from the fact that prime sheep were sold at 15s to 17s. At the corresponding sale last year similar sheep were selling at 30s .to 34s a head, and the better-class ewes at 23s to 27s 6d.

The beef market has, kept up well considering the easing prices of mutton and the steady supply of fat cattle from, the North Island throughout the year, but there has been a succession of weakening markets in the last six weeks, and yesterday prices came down to the lowest level for some years. The best beef sold at about 32s to 34s per 1001 b, with a few pens over the latter figure. Last year in January similar beef was making from 42s to 465. Yesterday’s entry of fat lambs was practically the first of the season where the size was calculated to test the export strength. Up till Christmas time the local demands accounted for the bulk of the lambs coming forward, and the probabilities are that , with lamb at the unusually low level it' is this year there will be a much heavier consumption in the City. However, when the season is in full swing, the local demand is not a very important influence on values. Yesterday the heavy entry recorded a drop of about 3s a head on the previous sale, and most of the lamb sold at round about s£d a lb, as against 6jd at the preceding market. At the corresponding sale last year the export price was B£d to B£d a lb, or a difference of 9s to 10s a head. RETAIL PRICEsIrO BE REDUCED ACTION BY BUTCHERS Following the sharp drop in wholesale meat prices at the Addington Market, the .Christchurch Master Butchers’ Association announced that retailers would reduce their prices in conformity with the market fluctuation. While it was generally recognised that there would be a fall in the market owing to the hot weather season, the fall of over Id per lb. on lamb and 2d on mutton took butchers by surprise, and there will be a proportioate cheapening of meat in City shops from to-day. Mr F. Kerr, president of the Master Butchers’ Association, told a “Press” reporter that the butchers regarded the fall as most unfortunate. The farmers, of course, stood to lose a great deal by the collapse of the market, but retail butchers would lose also. It was . essential that retail prices should follow the wholesale, as at the present time little meat was being sold owing to the hot weather. the causes of the fall, Mr Kerrr said that local prices were responding to the fall in export values. There was a big yarding at Addington yesterday,, with consignments from all over .Canterbury, and unfortunately there was little demand, either by freezing companies or by butchers. The freezing companies, who were, of course, much tho largest buyers, were evidently satisfied at present with recent large buyings, and butchers were more cautious owing to the fact that they now have only the carcases to consider from a trade point of view, skins and offal at the present time being practically worthless. Lamb and mutton would be the only meats affected by the drop in prices as far as retail butcheries were concerned, beef prices being influenced only to the slightest extent by the export market. The reduced retail prices, it was pointed out. would obtain only so long as the market maintained its present low level. There was little prospect, however, of any marked improvement immediately.