NEW ZEALAND BUTTER.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 286, 3 December 1930, Page 21

NEW ZEALAND BUTTER.

MARKET IN GREAT BRITAIN. SURVEY OF 3000 RETAIL SHOPS (From A Special Correspondent.) LONDON, October 25. The demand for New Zealand and other Empire butters in Great Britain is the subject of a report just issued by the Empire Marketing Board. This report contains the results of a survey of nearly 3000 retail shops in 18 large cities of England, Scotland and Wales, covering a population of 12 millions, and includes London, Liverpool, Birmingham, Manchester, Bristol, Cardiff, Glasgow, Edinburgh and other big centres. The object, states the economic section of the Empire Marketing .Board in a preface, is to provide information about retail demand, the extent ol foreign competition, the trend of the market, etc., for the benefit of the producer overseas. The producer, armed .with such knowledge, .should then be in a stronger position to plan new market drives and to adapt production to market requirements. New Zealand's Rapid Rise. The outstanding feature of the trade during the last few years has been the rise of New Zealand as a source of the United Kingdom's butter imports, states the report. New Zealand ranks second in the list of countries from which the United Kingdom imports her butter. The first is, of course, Denmark, which supplies 34 per cent of the total imports; New Zealand comes next with 20 per cent; European countries, qther than Denmark (Sweden, Finland, Holland, France, Ukraine, Siberie, etc.), just behind with 19 per cent; then Australia with 12 per cent, the Irish Free State with 9 per cent, and Argentina with 5 per cent. Canada has now almost ceased to export butter to the United Kingdom, but a new Empire entry into the market is South Africa, who has made a. beginning with 12,000cwt last year. The United Kingdom's butter imports in 1929 were no less than. 2,250,000cwt above the pre-war average; and nearly half this rise is accounted for by imports from New Zealand. Altogether, the overseas Empire supplies slightly under half of the total imports into the United Kingdom, which amounted, last year, to 6,500,000cwt. If home production, which is estimated at about 750,000cwt is added, then Empire and foreign supplies are just about balanced. Butter Boundaries. British housewives show marked preferences for different types of butter, and will often pay 2d or 3d a pound more for the type they prefer. Housewives in the north, the south and the west of Great Britain have different tastes in butter.

New Zealand butter, for instance, is particularly popular in the south. In London about half the retailers stock it, and it is found in about 90 pet cent of the branches of the big chain stores. But it has made little headway in the north, and the survey shows that four-fifths of the butter stocked in Yorkshire, 3lanchester and Scotland is of Danish origin. Liverpool and Birmingham show a particular preference for New Zealand butter. On the other hand, Scotland is almost a blank area as far as New Zealand sales go, and.might well repay special attention. Only' seven per cent of the shops in Glasgow, for instance, stock it. An interesting fact brought to light is that most of f the Xew Zealand butter on sale in these northern areas is found in branch shops of big national chainstores, which- buy in bulk from London. These firms usually sell butter from two or three different countries and standardise stocks throughout their branches. In the Yorkshire area and also in Edinburgh New. Zealand butter was found in about 35 per cent of the national chain-store branches and in less than five per cent of the local privatelyowned shops. Ports and Imports. The principal explanation of this geography of taste is'that* New Zealand and Australian butter arrives almost entirely at the port'of London, European butter on the. .north-east coast (Yorkshire, and Durham), and Irish butter at Liverpool,, Bristol, Cardiff and other western, ports. Round each port/ or. group of ports, the type of butter unloaded there' predominates. The New Zealand product is sold mainly in the London area and the south. The north 'is still mainly the foreigner's territory. Irish butter is found chiefly in the western districts, e.g. Liverpool,-' South, Wales and Bristol, where ft arrives. - Other factors, such as the well-known prefei - ence of the north-country purchaser for butter sold in "kiels," or cask-shaped blocks, .affect Empire salesmanship. Danish butter is displayed in these kiels, whereas the -New Zealand product is in box-shaped blocks. This fact is considered by some to be a definite selling point in favour of Danish and against New Zealand. / Season, of course, affects sales. New Zealand butter is naturally found in the greatest quantities in January, February and March, when the biggest shipments arrive. Irish butter, on the other hand is at its height from June to October. Many retailers stock Irish butter in the summer and switch over to New Zealand in the winter. Cheaper than Danish. Two separate surveys of the 3000 shops were -earned out in order to avoid confusion due to seasonal changes. The percentage of shops stocking New Zealand butter dropped from 35 per cent in April-June, to 28 per cent in JulySeptember. As regards retail price, New Zealand butter was generally cheaper than Home or Danish, but slightly dearer than Irish or Australian. Wide variations, however, were noted. In the north—Manchester, Yorkshire and Scotland —the average price of New Zealand butter was Id lower than that of Daniah. In Birmingham (the Midlands) it was lower, in Liverpool slightly higher, and in the southern area—Londop, Bristol and South Wales —New Zealand butter averaged a fraction of "a penny higher than Danish. The prices ranged from 1/6 to 2/ a pound. During the first survey (English spring) all prices were about Id lower than in the English summer and autumn.

"Packeted" butter (sold under proprietary names and blended) has a wide sale, particularly in dairies, where it is often the only type in stock, and 58 different brands were encountered. Dairies, it -was noted, rarely stock the New Zealand article. Packeted butter is more expensive than any other type except farm (Home) butter.