KEEN COMPETITORS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 178, 31 July 1933, Page 4

KEEN COMPETITORS.

BUTTER AND MARuARINE. EFFECT OF PRICE CHANGES. Attention is drawn to the margarine problem in the monthly market report of Wright, Stephenson and Co., Ltd., in referring to the butter quota proposals. Butter and margarine are so closely related that, in out opinion, they must be considered together, says the report. In 1930 the annual consumption of butter in the United Kingdom was 18.141b per head, and margarine 11.661b. In 1932, butter consumption was 21.01b per head and margarine 9.531b. As lib of butter per head equals 20,075 tons, it will readily be seen how a swing back to margarine could cause a glut of butter, even under a quota arrangement. It has already been demonstrated that an increase in the price of bacon reduced consumption to such an extent that the Britisii Minister of Agriculture increased the quota allocations for each country and appealed to them to ship greater quantities with the stated object of bringing down prices and encouraging consumption. The balance between butter and margarine is just as delicate as between bacon and other breakfast foods, so an increase in butter prices would immediately react on the sales and the higher the price the more marked would be the change over to margarine, which in taste and appearance is indistinguishable from butter.

The Danes are probably the greatest margarine caters if! the world, in 1930 the annual consumption per bead being 501b and in 1931 48.71b. Their butter consumption was 13.51b in 1930 and 14.41b in 1931. Last year they consumed 29.500 tons of butter, which represented 18.881b per head. We consumed 401'u per bead, so they could double their sales on the Home market and still be below New Zealand, and by so doing would take 29,500 tons off the British market. The same remarks apply in a lesser degree to other Continental countries exporting butter. The United Kingdom is practically the only available market for surplus butter, ami if that becomes limited, exporting countries will promptly pass laws limiting the manufacture of margarine. Netherlands has already decreed that all margarine must contain an admixture of 40 per cent butter. Similar legislation would help us very little, as New Zealand's consumption of margarine is 1500 tons, about 21b per head. If an international agreement limiting margarine manufacture could be arranged, this would, in our opinion, do much more to alleviate the present unsatisfactory butter situation than any of the remedies tried or suggested to date.