PAY-OUT FOR CHEESE

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28747, 19 November 1958, Page 16

PAY-OUT FOR CHEESE

Board Requests Extra id (New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, November 18. "The Dairy Board has asked the Government to increase the guaranteed price differential for cheese from 3d to 4d per lb butterfat. If conditions warrant it. the Dairy Board has also agreed to press for an additional increase in the differential at the end of the current season, possibly earlier. The proposal to increase the differential follows the high price of cheese on the London market and the drop in production in New Zealand. An increased differential would be a bait for some butter or casein producing factories to switch to cheese. Changes would probably be made in consultation with the Dairy Board. The guaranteed price for butter is 32d per lb butterfat and for cheese 35d per lb. Cheese production in New Zealand for the first three months ot the current season—to the end of September—totalled 14,244 tons, a drop of 12.6 per cent, on production during the same period a year ago. The price rise is largely due to reduced production in Australia and Britain earlier this year. Shipments of cheese from New Zealand up to the present time have been maintained at a level approaching that of the last year. However, because of the reduced supplies, the situation has changed radically in recent weeks. The ex-store price of cheese on the London market is 291 s per cwt, compared with a guaranteed price equivalent nf 194 s per cwt.