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CHAPTER VII.—CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS. 
The development of the frozen meat trade on the Continent 
since the close of the war has been phenomenal and is of great 
interest, as it has increased the demand for beef to an enormous 
extent. The chief importing countries are Ttaly, France, Germany, 
Belgium and Holland. Belgium is now also importing beef on 
bhe hoof from the Argentine, some at least of which will probably 
appear in London as fresh-killed. Before the war, trade in 
frozen beef with these countries was negligible compared with 
the English trade, and had no influence on the prices which 
English importers had to pay for their supplies. Increasing 
industrial development in continental countries implied, however, 
a steadily increasing pressure on their domestic supplies and a 
change was imminent. Western Europe was, in fact, rapidly 
approaching that point of development, that disparity between 
food production and consumption, which Great Britain had 
passed many years previously. The present continental demand 
for frozen beef is, therefore, not wholly attributable to war 
causes. Nevertheless, the war had an important effect. High 
prices led to inroads on the flocks and herds and reduced local 
supplies. At the same time, the regular supply of frozen beef 
bo the various continental armies cultivated a desire for meat 
among men who previously had eaten very little. Industry, too, 
was immensely quickened by the demand for munitions and 
by the development of local manufactures to replace imported 
manufactured goods. Indeed, in the post-war years, the increased 
continental demand for frozen beef, saved beef-production in 
the southern hemisphere from the disaster which in 1922 and 
1923 might otherwise have overtaken it. 
At the end of the war, production was on a grandiose scale 
and huge stocks had accumulated in cold store. Prices, however, 
remained high until 1921, when, in common with all other com- 
modities, they slumped. In that year, cold stores were so full 
bhat ships had to be used to store frozen meat for which there 
was no sale. Moreover, the high profits of the war period had 
induced great development among cattle raisers: many new 
men entered the business, buying their stock—largely by loans— 
at the enhanced prices then prevailing. Each producing centre, 
therefore, was full of eager sellers, who were compelled to sell 
in order to meet their commitments. This situation held 
throughout 1921 and 1922, and was not improved by the fact 
that beef sold to Germany at that time had eventually to be 
discharged in this country because, for various reasons, the 
German importers could not take up their documents. Serious 
losses on cattle were general, and many producers prepared to 
change over to sheep-rearing, or to dairying. 
Towards the end of 1923, what looked like a new era in the 
frozen meat trade began with the entry of Italy as a very large 
buyer. The closing months of that vear saw. for the first time