NEW ZEALAND BEEF

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 686, 11 June 1929, Page 10

NEW ZEALAND BEEF

PROSPECTS OF AMERICAN TRADE EXPERT’S REPORT The growth of New Zealand s meat trade and the recent imposition by America of a 6 per cent, increase on beef, bringing the present duty up to nine cents a lb, are factors that are exciting keen interest among beef exporters in New Zealand, particularly in regard to beef killings in America and the Argentine. nPHE following report by Mr. J. 13. Cramsie. chairman of the Metropolitan Meat Industry Board, Sydney, who has closely investigated the position ovefl a number of yea*rs, is, therefore, of particular interest. It has been made available to The Sun through tlio courtesy of Mr. Charles Behringer, of the firm of Messrs. Bohringer. Taylor and Johnson, architects and engineers, who are engaged in the erection of the new Civic Theatre in Auckland. Mr. Bohringer has been interested in the design of abattoirs in Australia and other parts of the world. ARGENTINE’S LIMIT •Some four years ago on my arrival m England after a careful investigation of the stock production and the potentialities for expansion of the Argentine, Uruguay and Brazil.” says Nil*. Cramsie, “I made the following statement to the London Press: That the Argentine had reached her limit oi profitable beef production and that her 192 4 export would remain her record for many years, if not for all time. Any further extension of primary production would be in the direction of dairying or agriculture: that Uruguay was a country fully stocked, and not likely to extend her beef production, and any extension being in the direction of sheep farming or agriculture; that Brazil was a country breeding an inferior type of cattle and making little advancement, and that she was unlikely to become a strong factor in the world’s meat supply for many years, if ever. CANADA DECLINING •'On my return to Australia some nine months later, after having for some months carefully investigated the potentialities for expansion of beef production in the United States and Canada, I m£>de the additional statements: —

That the United States had passed her limit of providing a meat supply for her 115,000,000 people, and with her two million annual increase of population, would become a very large importer of beef within the next few years.

That Canada’s beef production was declining, and that she would find a market for the whole of her surplus beef production in the United States in the near future and discontinue her trade in live cattle to Great Britain. "That these forecasts have been justified is shown by the following excerpts from the leading article in the London ‘Times’ on April 8 of this year, commenting on Sir Wm. Haldane’s statement of future supplies of beef, and statements by Messrs. Ernesto Tornquist and Co., of Buenos Ayres, leading bankers of that country, and Messrs. Gibson Bros., leading stock agents, and other recognised authorities of stock production in the Argentine and the United States:

Beef is by far the most important meat product which we consume, yet for 58 per cent, of our present beef consumption we depend on supplies from overseas and, up to now, 40 per cent, of this consumption has been coming from the Argentine alone. ‘•Last year the number of cattle slaughtered in the Argentine Frigorificos was over 400,000 fewer than in 1927, a reduction of 121 per cent. In the exports of chilled and frozen beef the reduction was still greater. and amounted to 24 per cent., or over two million quarters. That was the position in 1928 as compared with 1927, and it is steadily growing worse. “Already during the last three months the slaughterings for export show a further reduction of 15

per cent, on those of last year. "In 1927, owing to the competition for cattle caused by the meat war, there was an increase, but with that exception there lias been a progressive decline for the last five years, and in stock breeding circles in the Argentine it is the genera] opinion that they have reached and passed the maximum of their beef exporting capacity. AMERICA LIFTS RESTRICTION

“Up to now, the Government of the United States, in order to avoid any risk of the importation of foot and mouth disease, has steadily refused to buy meat in the Argentine market. In view of the beef famine from which their people are now suffering, it is highly improbable that they will be able to persist in this refusal. They have, indeed, already allowed the entry of Argentine meat into the States under safeguards against the disease far more stringent than those imposed by Great Britain, and in spite of the recent outbreak in California there is very little chance tliat the door having once been opened will again be closed. This country must therefore face the prospect of having to look for an alternative source of supply in place of the Argentine.

"In Australia and in Canada (which has the big American market at her doors) the head of cattle is steadily decreasing, and New Zealand has hardly any available surplus for export. Messrs. Ernesto Tornquist and Company, leading bankers, of Buenos Ayres. Argentine, state that it is obvious that there is a great shortage of cattle. It is an accepted fact that the area under alfalfa has shrunk to a considerable extent and this, coupled to the increasing area which is being put under agriculture, would seem to account, in a measure, for this state of affairs.

“Dealing with the beef position in the United Sta.tes, Mr. Louis F. Swift, of Messrs. Swift and Company, the world’s leading meat organisation, in his 1929 presidential address, states: ‘Results, both on beef and pork, have been disappointing this past year. The reduction in cattle receipts has reduced our beef volume, and the high level of beef and cattle prices has added to the difficulty of making a profit on our beef business. The receipts of cattle continue to decline. They were 6 per cent, less than 1926. The department also estimated that the number of beef cattle in the country was 23,373,000 and this is the smallest beef cattle population we have had since 1877.’

"When President Hoover recently visited the Argentine, he is credited with having said that with rapidly increasing population and food pressure it would be impossible for his people to continue their refusal of Argentine meat, and he gave three years as the outside period that even the terror of foot and mouth disease could bar its entry into the United States.

"Surely statements such as these by leading authorities can be accepted with reliance.”

That Canada’s export of cattle has turned in the direction of the United States is shown by the fact that in 1225 her shipments of live stock to Great Britain amounted to 111.000 head, but had declined in 1927 to 8,300 head, whereas her shipments to the

L'nited States had increased « 158,000 live cattle and 7.30 n Ir °«i dressed beef in 1926 to 283 r ' eatth? and 23.000 tons of dressed OUR OPPORTUNITY In the face of the now recognised world decline in beef ' duct ion we must recognise the sity for increased and improved*?' duction in Australia and New ZeaH?f says Mr. Cramsie. **■» Australia and New Ze,i opportunity is tier. The \rc„ has passed her limit of profitable production; the other South AmerieTi countries are unlikely to Increase; t v! L'nited States and Canada’s productie-, are declining. Surely the time hi come when we must either successful), develop our large unstocked area, i Northern Australia or acknowteJ? such development as impossible .-2 with our increasing population fac, Australia, the situation of a shortac of meat supplies for local requirements wii hi r. :i v ?i-\: 1*» nr 1 N years