MARKETING OF N.Z. PRODUCE

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27443, 1 September 1954, Page 6

MARKETING OF N.Z. PRODUCE

ENDING OF BULK PURCHASES

DEPARTMENTAL REPORT DISCUSSES PROBLEMS

(New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, August 31. Unpredictable influences will affect the future of New Zealand dairy produce and meat on the British market with bulk purchasing ended, says the annual report of the Department of Industries and Commerce, tabled in the House of Representatives this afternoon.

Among these are the extent to which Danish butter may be preferred to New Zealand butter , and the effect of margarine on butter. The prices at which butter and margarine will obtain their shares of the market are obscure, the report says. The meat price level is likely to be held and even increased in certain in-, stances, as there is a scarcity of certain classes of meat on the British market.

The report emphasises that up-to-date packaging and marketing arrangements by New Zealand selling organisations are important. “There is no reason to revise the opinion expressed in last year’s report that from the long-term point of view the wool market appears favourable to the producers,” the report says. “However, the threat of competition from synthetics cannot be regarded lightly. The best safeguard for the future lies in low production costs so that wool can compete on the best possible terms.”

The growing interest of New Zealand manufacturers in export trade is mentioned in the report. An increasing range of New Zealand-manufac-tured goods is finding a place in overseas markets, and the value of these is steadily increasing, says the report. “In spite of difficulties facing the sale of dairy products—notably restrictions in the United States and Canada, where there is a huge surplus —the future for main export commodities can in general be regarded as favourable, subject to any major changes in the international scene,” the report adds. “The United States surplus problem has alreday adversely affected New Zealand sales of milk powder, and the ? i industry has deemed it advisable to I halt the expansion of the productive capacity in New Zealand, which was proceeding in anticipation of an increasing world demand at profitable prices. “The need for such foodstuffs throughout the world is so great that in the long-term, adequate markets should be available for all New Zealand can produce, providing purchasing power can be raised in the underdeveloped countries?*