DEAR BUTTER IN BRITAIN

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28981, 24 August 1959, Page 16

DEAR BUTTER IN BRITAIN

Retail Sales Still Unaffected

(Special Correspondent N.Z.P.A.) LONDON, August 20

Will the British public continue its growing allegiance to butter in the face of higher retail prices now ranging between 3s 8d and 4s 4d per lb? This is the chief question facing butter importers and margarine manufacturers at the moment, says the “Financial Times.” There seems no likelihood at present that butter prices will drop until the full flow of the new season’s Australian and New Zealand products reaches the market next January. In the meantime the possibility exists of the cost of Continental butter rising even further. Available statistics suggest the British public cannot be persuaded to eat more fat than it is now doing. The combined butter and margarine consumption has stabilised at between 301 b and 341 b per head per year, which is exactly what it was in the pre-war decade. What is gained by butter tends to be lost by margarine, and vice versa. Since the end of rationing. butter has been gaining ground steadily, finishing with a sudden spurt in 1958. The figures for the first five months of this year suggest that the consumption pattern of 1958 will be repeated, but this does not take into account current high prices.