Deregulation : impact on the Christchurch meat industry

Abstract

It is now ten years since the report of the first Commission of inquiry into the Meat Industry, led by the Honourable A.H. Nordmeyer, was tabled before Parliament. Many of the recommendations of the Nordmeyer Commission were incorporated into the Meat Act 1964, later consolidated into the Meat Act 1981. Not all of the Commission's recommendations have proven acceptable to the industry, notably the short lived Meat Industry Authority which was set up in 1976 and dissolved five years later, but there can be no question that this inquiry, the first public inquiry into the legislative underpinnings of New Zealand's largest export processing industry, has provided both a stimulus for change and a vehicle by which change can occur. This Discussion Paper is intended to consider some of the changes that have followed on from the Nordmeyer Commission's report, up to the time when a second public inquiry into the Meat Industry was called in 1983. It is hoped that by using a case study approach, the consequences of changes in government policy regarding the meat industry can be considered with respect to the flow of costs and benefits to producers, processors and consumers in a given region. Insights thus achieved could be of value to industry participants and to policymakers alike. The paper briefly reviews the legislative background to the meat processing industry, the activities of abattoirs and a meat exporter in the Canterbury region, and presents some data describing the Christchurch retail meat market. Changes in the supply of meat to the Christchurch market as a consequence of delicensing the industry are considered, followed by a discussion of the implications of change in the export and domestic processing sectors. A limitation exists in the static nature of some of the data presented. Considerable difficulty was experienced in gathering reliable data on the retail meat trade over time. It has therefore been necessary to comment less on the magnitude of change than on its nature. However, some topics for future research are suggested. For example, benefits to New Zealand consumers from deregulating the abattoir system could be investigated in a longitudinal study of wholesale and retail margins. Secondly, a greater knowledge of the magnitude of change in the local supply industry towards further concentration of ownership at point of slaughter, and concentration at processing and retail levels, could assist industry participants to accommodate change with minimal social costs. Marketing studies of red meat and meat products could form a part of this work. Thirdly, an examination of combinations of livestock product cartage from farm to retail could assist in future decisions regarding location of slaughter facilities.