aye \ I I ll_ I I /-Vl_l V_yl WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 25, 1976 Farmer bears brunt Consumer meat prices j Sugar prices clown “ • Associated Press World sugar consumption is ex- a Associated Press WASHINGTON — New gov ernment figures show that consumer beef prices are at a 16-month low, down more than 14 per cent from what they were a year ago, and that farmers have borne the brunt of the decline. The Agriculture Department said Tuesday that retail beef prices in July averaged slightly more than $1.38 a pound. That was the lowest. on an all-cut basis since beef was about $1.34 a pound in April 1975. In July of last year they soared to a rec ord of $1.61 a pound. Beef supplies have been huge this spring and summer as farmers and ranchers stepped up grain-fed cattle production and continued to thin out herds. As a result, market prices for live animals have been depressed. Last month, US DA said, the farm value of beef sold in stores was 74.2 cents a pound, a drop of nearly 30 per cent from July of last year. How ever, the middleman share for transporting, processing and selling beef was 64 cents a pound, an in crease of nearly 16 per cent. The farm value is not what farmers get for live animals since it takes nearly 2.3 pounds of steer on the hoof to make one pound of super market beef. It is, however, their share of what consumers pay for beef at stores. While retail beef prices continued their decline last month, pork prices rose slightly from June to July, av eraging about $1.42 a pound. That 1.1 per cent less than a year share of 55.9 cents was up almost 31 per cent from July 1975, according to the department. earlier and substantially below the record of nearly $1.59 a pound for retail pork last October. Preliminary figures for early Au gust showed that retail beef prices have continued to decline and that pork also has started to drop. The farm value of pork in July — 86.2 cents — was down nearly 15 per cent from a year ago, while the “marketing spread” or middleman Over-all last month, the market ing spread of farm-produced foods widened 1.2 per cent, with the in creases for beef and pork leading the way. In contrast, the spread be tween what farmers get and con sumers pay for poultry and oilseed products narrowed last month. That left farmers in July getting an average of 40 cents of each $1 con sumers spent on food, down from a share of 40.4 cents in June and 43.3 cents in July of last year, officials said. Associated Press WASHINGTON — World sugar inventories are building rapidly and “recently have exerted downward pressures” on prices according to the Agriculture Department. Current estimates put world sugar production in 1976-77 at a record of 92.6 million to 95.6 million short tons of2,000 pounds each, compared with the previous high of 89.6 mil lion tons last season, a department’s Outlook and Situation Board said Tuesday. World sugar consumption is ex pected to rise two million to three million tons from last season’s 89 mil lion tons. Thus, a sizeable increase in leftover supplies is indicated by the end of the 1976-77 year, officials said. The world reserve at the end of last season was 18 million tons, an increase of about 500,000 tons and the first gain in five years. Since the New York price of raw sugar peaked at $16.60 per one hundred pounds on July 6, it has dropped sharply to $9.88 on Aug. 23 and could average below $12pe| hundred pounds. The New] price for the period January! July averaged $15.35 perl hundred pounds, comparedif $22.47 for the entire 1975 ( year. “U.S. and world pricesareli to remain at low levels until 18j crop prospects are clearer andij markets assess the pricelevelsr seem consistent with prosj supplies and anticipated derr the report said. Proposed meat rules protester Texas dairy situation looks bright With Texas dairy cows producing more milk, milk bringing a favorable price, and the milk-fed price ratio continuing to drop, dairymen can generally look toward the remainder of 1976 with happy anticipation. That assessment comes from Dr. Randall Stelly, economist with the Texas Agricultural Extension Serv ice and the Texas Agricultural Ex periment Station. A number of factors suggest a fa vorable outlook for Texas dairymen in the coming months: 1. The continued tight supply- demand balance is likely to result in fairly strong seasonal rises in farm prices during the second half of the year. 2. Although feed prices have in creased from mid-spring levels, they are not likely to maintain recent Everybody should have Somebody waiting for him when he gets home Puppies and Kittens Small Animals Fish & Aquarium Supplies Ask about our Fish-of-the-Month Club Animal World MANOR EAST MALL FOR SPeCMCULAR ttecMoes or evecM^es . . . Visit the Frame ’N Lens Spectacle Shop. We have plastic, we have wires, we have European frames, we have sunglasses, we have Neostyles, we have Christ ian Dior . . . Oscar De La Renta . . . Silhouette, in fact, we have over 400 frames to choose from — From the usual to the very unusual. Let us fill your prescription accurately and frame it in fashion . . . usual or unusual. TH€ OPTICAL SHOPPC H. W. Fulfs, Optician ] 10% AGGIE DISCOUNT WITH I.D. CARD Located on the front of Manor East Mall next to Montgomery Ward. 822-6267. levels if normal weather prevails. 3. Milk-feed price relationships this summer and fall likely will favor continued heavy concentrate feed ing, even if feed prices are somewhat higher than now expected. 4. There was a large supply of re placement stock on dairy farms at the beginning of 1976. 5. The value of dairy cows has in creased steadily since August 1975 to an average of $479 per head in June, up $66 from last June. 6. Prices paid for production items thus far in 1976 have risen more slowly than last year but have aver aged about one-tenth higher than a year ago. 7. The general economy continues to improve, thus strengthening the demand for dairy products. Under these conditions, milk out put likely will continue to exceed year-earlier levels throughout the remainder of the year, said Stelly. As* far as the key milk producing counties in the state are concerned, Hopkins and Erath counties are the two top producers, accounting for one-fourth of all the milk produced in Texas. Hopkins County produced about 16 per cent of the June milk output while Erath County pro duced about 9 per cent. Ten counties accounted for almost half of all the milk produced in Texas during'June. Associated Press WASHINGTON — A consumer group said Tuesday that proposed new government meat rules will let processors put bits of bone in hot dogs, garbage scraps in canned beef stew and simmered fat in a variety of prepared food products. The new meat regulations are being considered by the Agriculture Department, which contends that the changes will enable processors to reclaim significant amounts of pro tein and thereby help consumers with their meat budgets. But the Public Citizens’ Health Research Group said the proposals “should be seen for what they are — rides for turning garbage into money — and rejected.” Processors currently are allowed to salvage meat from bones and fat under temporary rules announced last spring. The proposed regu lations, if adopted, will put them on a permanent footing. A senior department official, de nying an earlier request for cancella tion of the temporary rules, said there is no evidence to suggest a threat to the nation’s fo