CHAPTER III. 



THE CONSUMPTION OF ANIMAL FOODSTUFFS 

 IN THE EMPIRE 



IT has been assumed hitherto that the rate of consumption of 

 animal foodstuffs within the British Empire will remain at 

 approximately the same level in the future as that of the past. 

 The future rate of consumption, however, depends upon the extent 

 of the supplies available at prices that consumers can afford to 

 pay. It is difficult to forecast what margin of income the average 

 British consumer will have at his disposal in the future for the 

 purchase of animal foodstuffs ; the average rates of wages may 

 rise without this margin being in any way increased. The price 

 levels of animal foodstuffs are likely to remain permanently higher 

 than they were in the period 1901-13, since during that period the 

 tendency was already towards an upward movement ; and in the 

 future these price levels may be so high in relation to the purchasing- 

 power of the average consumer that the per capita consumption 

 may fall. The reduction in the rate of consumption which may 

 arise through certain forms of substitution being adopted in the 

 British Empire will be considered later. It is obvious that if the 

 per capita rate of consumption of these foodstuffs rises or falls 

 through any cause in the Empire in the future, its deficiency as a 

 whole in them will tend to be correspondingly increased or reduced. 



1 The estimates for years nearest to 1911 have been taken in those cases 

 where no estimate is to be found for that year. The figures represent dressed 

 meat exclusive of edible offal 



