THE MARKETING DEPARTMENT

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22592, 23 December 1938, Page 8

THE MARKETING DEPARTMENT

ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS

INTERNAL DIVISION PROFIT £6804

ESTIMATED DAIRY SURPLUS OF £555,185

(press association telegram.) WELLINGTON, December 22. The Minister fqr Marketing (the Hon. W. Nash) has issued the annual report and statement of accounts of the Primary Products Marketing Department for the year ended July 31, 1938. “In terms of the Primary Products Marketing Act the report and accounts are to be laid before Parliament within 14 days after they have been received by the Minister, if Parliament is then sitting,” said Mr Nash. “The parliamentary session ended on September 16, 1938, before the report and accounts could be completed. I am now issuing these statements, and they will be laid before Parliament when It next meets.

“The report of the dairy produce export division reviews the completed financial operations for the year ended July 31, 1937. The deficit for the 1936-37 season is shown to be £ 272,482. In terms of the undertaking given to the dairy industry fhis deficit is the responsibility oi the Government.

Estimated Surplus

“The report reviews the operations for the 1937-38 season and discloses the estimated surplus as £555,185. This estimate was based on valuations of unsold butter at 110s per cwt and unsold cheese at 70s per cwt. Sales made to date support the estimated surplus which has been quoted. “In the case of creamery butter and cheese the actual realisations for produce which was unsold at the balance date exceeded the estimates. In the case of whey butter, the actual realisations were less than the estimates. The net result is that at the date of closing the accounts (June 21, 1938) the actual deficit for the 1936-37 season was £272,109. In the accounts published with last year’s report, the deficit for the season was estimated at £548,750. Interest at 1J per cent, is allowed on the deficit of £272,109 from June 21, 1938, to the end of July, bringing the deficit for the 1936-37 season at July 31, 1938, to £272,482. “Full details are given of the marketing operations of the department, and references are made to the improvements in the distribution of butter and cheese, and in price returns which have resulted from the new marketing procedure. “Advertising and publicity activities in the United Kingdom are fully reviewed, and details are given of extensions in the programme which have been made possible by the increased financial allocation for this purpose. “There is a complete range of all the statistical data relating to the gradings of butter and cheese shipments, and deliveries to London and other ports in the United Kingdom.

Internal Division “The guaranteed prices for dairy produce are tabulated, with the corresponding average payments for butter-fat made by dairy companies to their suppliers. Dairy company manufacturing costs are shown, and comparisons are made with the previous season’s costs. Special references are made to cheese manufacture and to the efforts of the Government to maintain cheese production.

“The report and accounts of the internal marketing division cover a period of 14 months. The activities of this division are reviewed, and in particular much information is given on the local marketing of butter, eggs, honey, and fruit. Particulars are given of the assistance rendered in the constitution, in terms of the regulations, of bobby-calf pools for the collection, handling, and disposal of bobby-calves. The accounts show that the trading operations of the internal marketing division have resulted in a net profit of £6804.”

CHEESE PRODUCTION

SUCCESS CLAIMED FOR MARGINAL PAYMENT

OTBESE iS.IOCII.IIO* TBLEdBIU.) WELLINGTON, December 22. The relationship between butter manufacture and cheese manufacture is referred to in the annual report- of the Primary Products Marketing Department. After pointing out that the differential marginal payment in favour of butter-fat supplied for cheese making is intended to compensate suppliers to cheese factory companies for the comparatively lower returns from by-products, and for the costs of delivery of milk, the report states that there is evidence to support the contention that the price margin has been effective in arresting the steady decline in cheese production during the last five years. Figures are given showing that in the two seasons immediately preceding the introduction of the guaranteed price procedure, decreases in cheese production were respectively 10.62 per cent, and 7.68 per cent. For the 193637 season the increase in cheese production is 3.12 per cent., and for the 1937-38 season the decrease is 3.12 per cent. “When it is considered that in respect of butter the decrease for 193738 season is 7.59 per cent., it can fairly be claimed that the present price margin of 2d per lb of butter-fat in favour of cheese has assisted to maintain cheese production,” says the report.