asked the Minister for Agriculture if he will state in respect of each of the months of September, 1955 to March, 1956 (1) the number of pigs in each grade received at bacon factories, (2) the average dead-weight price per cwt. for each grade paid to producers, and (3) the average price per cwt. received by the bacon factories for each grade of bacon.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Grading and Price of Pigs.
The information requested in the first part of the question is available on a weekly basis only, for pigs weighing from 1 cwt. 0 qr. 8 lb. to 1 cwt. 2 qr. 7 lb. dead-weight, which have been purchased by bacon curers on a dead-weight basis and are intended for use in the production of bacon. With your permission, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle, I propose to have circulated with the Official Report the weekly particulars of the grading of such pigs for the period from 29th August, 1955, to 25th February, 1956.
I regret that the information requested in the second and third parts of the question is not available.
GRADING OF PIGS AT BACON FACTORIES.
|
Week ended |
Grade A No. |
Grade B No. |
Grade C No. |
Grade X No. |
Total No. of pigs graded |
|
1955 |
|||||
|
3rd September |
5,611 |
2,978 |
1,723 |
818 |
11,130 |
|
10th ,, |
8,651 |
4,815 |
2,409 |
912 |
16,787 |
|
17th ,, |
8,588 |
4,252 |
2,021 |
759 |
15,620 |
|
24th ,, |
8,741 |
4,320 |
1,974 |
645 |
15,680 |
|
1st October |
8,722 |
4,247 |
1,769 |
657 |
15,395 |
|
8th ,, |
7,599 |
3,961 |
1,777 |
567 |
13,904 |
|
15th ,, |
6,956 |
3,783 |
1,798 |
522 |
13,059 |
|
22nd ,, |
7,362 |
3,823 |
1,908 |
504 |
13,597 |
|
29th ,, |
6,754 |
3,468 |
1,626 |
504 |
12,352 |
|
5th November |
6,428 |
3,398 |
1,690 |
501 |
12,017 |
|
12th ,, |
7,236 |
3,985 |
1,998 |
609 |
13,828 |
|
19th ,, |
6,323 |
3,982 |
1,897 |
568 |
12,770 |
|
26th ,, |
6,746 |
4,416 |
2,518 |
636 |
14,316 |
|
3rd December |
7,067 |
4,575 |
2,610 |
655 |
14,907 |
|
10th ,, |
6,321 |
3,896 |
2,040 |
581 |
12,838 |
|
17th ,, |
5,992 |
3,838 |
1,964 |
445 |
12,239 |
|
24th ,, |
3,187 |
1,806 |
954 |
255 |
6,202 |
|
31st ,, |
1,289 |
745 |
385 |
80 |
2,499 |
|
1956 |
|||||
|
7th January |
4,399 |
2,480 |
1,200 |
274 |
8,353 |
|
14th ,, |
4,734 |
2,350 |
1,260 |
298 |
8,642 |
|
21st ,, |
7,306 |
3,763 |
2,277 |
437 |
13,783 |
|
28th ,, |
6,325 |
3,118 |
1,876 |
368 |
11,687 |
|
4th February |
7,058 |
3,415 |
2,032 |
434 |
12,939 |
|
11th ,, |
7,998 |
3,642 |
2,081 |
455 |
14,176 |
|
18th ,, |
6,274 |
2,813 |
1,436 |
317 |
10,840 |
|
25th ,, |
5,581 |
2,605 |
1,400 |
302 |
9,888 |
Is the Minister satisfied that the grading is on an equitable basis and that the grades that are bought as C and X are sold to the buyers or to the consumers as grades C and X? I think it is most important that the Minister should have the information sought in the question.
I would suggest to the Deputy that if he wants further particulars as to the disposition of grade C and grade X bacon, there is no means available to me of getting it, but that in regard to the supplementary directed towards the equity of the present system of grading, he will see from the figures when they appear that the percentage of grade A pigs is steadily rising and now represents somewhat more than 50 per cent. of all pigs graded which on the whole, inasmuch as grades B, C and X constitute the other half, is not, I think, such a bad record.
Would the Minister agree with me that pigs bought as grades C and X are sold to the retailers at grades A and B prices?
No. I am bound to say I cannot assent to that proposition because the bulk of the pigs purchased as grades C and X are unduly fat. They are not necessarily unduly heavy but they are of a fat type, with an undue proportion of fat in them. I think if the Deputy asks any provision merchant of his acquaintance he will tell him that to sell fat bacon at the present time is extremely difficult. There is no doubt whatever that in the curers' lists, which the Deputy has probably seen from time to time, a very much lower price is quoted for fat bacon than is quoted for lean bacon. To retail fat bacon at the present time is a problem for every retailer because the bulk of customers will not take it at any price.
Would the Minister's agents in these factories not compile the information sought under headings 2 and 3 in this question, and that would settle the whole position? The Minister must bear in mind that bacon producers are most dissatisfied at the present time. All public representatives in my part of the country are receiving complaints daily from pig producers that they are not getting fair play from the factories, or at least from the factories in Cork. Furthermore, for the Minister's information, the shopkeepers and the provision merchants he mentioned inform me that they pay almost the full price for bacon which was certainly bought as X bacon.
Would the Deputy not agree with me that inasmuch as all grading in factories is done under the supervision of the Department's inspectors and is subject to the provision that anyone who wants to go in and see his own pigs graded must be admitted to supervise that procedure, we are entitled to expect that all farmers, if they feel dissatisfied, would take steps to supplement the supervision that I have provided through the officers of the Department by going themselves or appointing someone to represent them to check that grading themselves? If they would do that it would be of great assistance to me.
The Minister knows very well that it would be difficult for people to travel more than 50 miles or 100 miles to bacon factories. Would the Minister not agree that these agents could compile a list of gradings when the bacon is being sold to the shopkeepers just as he does when it is bought from the producers? That should work out satisfactorily if the system is working equitably, which, I maintain, it is not.
I wish to ask the Minister if he is aware that it is becoming the practice of bacon factories in recent times to add in a side of grade X bacon, that is, a heavy side into a supply of light sides, thereby helping to clear some of these heavy sides at the price of first quality bacon?
That is a separate question.
Would the Deputy agree with me that it is surely beyond the powers of Dáil Éireann to review every transaction between a merchant and a bacon factory and to protect an experienced merchant from a fraud of that character? If Deputy O'Hara or Deputy Murphy would put down a question asking what are the average weekly prices charged in the average lists for the various grades of bacon I think we could provide that information for him. In the light of that information, we might reach a conclusion in this difficult matter more readily.