THE EXPORT OF BACON.

Shannon News, 9 December 1924, Page 4

THE EXPORT OF BACON.

Tlie price of pigs in New Zealand for both porkers and baconers ffiust, be considered satisfactory up to the present from a producers’ point of : view. There appears- toi be every in-, dication, however, that, from now. onwards, production will’ overtake consumption .. with, the, ... result that the usual Christmas drop in prices Will once more be experienced.' The worst ( feature of such a drop in values is that it always occurs at a time; when fat pigs are most plentiful, therebycausing a serious reduction in the average .annual returns of the producer.' Increase Xu Pigs.. It is an accepted fact that the hum-, her of pigs in New ■, Zealand, is con-, siderably in excess.’ of last year, although there exist no actual figures to ‘ substantiate ,such an assertion. Official figures show that the number of pigs in 1924 was only 6000 more than the previous year, an increase which Would hardly make itself felt. Going back a number of-years, how-i ever, the position is- very much different. The;total number of pigs in New Zealand in 1920 was 266,129, compared with .406,934, an increase of over 60 per cent. . It is not . likely that the consumptive demand for* pork and bacon has. increased at the same rate, and unless something is done"— and done quickly—to remedy state of :affairs, > the result will' be—' disappointing and unprofitable prices for the .producers. > , . Unstable.-! Industry. It is almost superfluous to , state that the pig industry in New; Zealand is not developed ; to, anything like its full extent. . Comp with the wopderful strides made by the dairy industry, the increase in pigs—which on the face; of things should keep, pace with the" increase in dairying—has been left hopelessly behind.' The fault for this ilies not so much'"with the producer as it does with the baconcurer. During the last four or five years the pig industry hase been one of the most unstable and most unsatisfactory: industries in “New Zealand. Prices rose , to ;extremes during the, periods i when few or no pigs were available, thereby inducing breeders to increase their stocks, only to completely collopse h - few months later when stocks of fat pigs because plentiful. Needless to say, that such violent fluctuations, were, not justified by, the law of supply and'demand of ‘ the local market, but what is intend-

ad, is to stress the fact .that .unless the pig buyers and bacon curers in New Zealand are in.gqposition of introduce mg some stabilising factor-in the bacon industry of this country,' neither they themselves nor the producers will ever get all there" is Ho be got ’out ol this important industry.- > - Export Only Remedy. - Apart from encouraging pbrhaps an increased local consumption,, the. export of frozen pork and bacon affords the only solution to this difficult problem, it is true some spasmodic and haphazard . experiments in this dn ection have been made on a comparatively small scale and over short periods. It is* said that last 1 season these experiments were more or less unprofitable as the local market proved more remunerative: than, the ex-1 port. 1 This, however, was not so much due to high prices in New Zealand as it was to low values in Great Britain. !This year the position appears to be. reversed.: Bacon is in short.supply oh the English market, and' prices have . had a rising tendency for moiths past with very bright piospecls for the future, iWhen it is considered that Great Britain imports over - £50,000,600 of pigproducts every year, and that-over half.; of that amount: is, obtained from America, one cannot help wondering why a dairying country, such as New Zealand is not in a position to appropriate at. least a !?mall portion of this huge trade. / Inaction of Meat 80ard.... Although .the Meat Control Board has rendered very good service in obtaining a reduced freight rate and improved shipping facilities, it is disappointing to note that they did not venture beyond: this point. With experts ontthe spot, the Meat Control Board should function as a pioneer of trade in their particular* line of business. If new business is to be had, hew markets are to be opened and new connections made, the Meat Control Board has the means and facilities to do so, whether it is beef, mutton or pork. As far as pork is concerned, the Board has certainly up to the present failed to assist the producers in this direction.

/;. Possibility of Pig Industry. ~ . The, exportable' surplus of pork and bacon may only play a small part in the export trade of this country at ' present, but there is no industry that would respond more;quickly or is capable of a ■ more rapid; expansion than is ; the pig industry. Given adequate en-. couragement and anything like sta-

biiity of prices, the potentiality and possibilities of the pig industry,>of New Zealand would only be secondary • to the dairying industry itself.