Concern At Drop In Butter Price

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30783, 22 June 1965, Page 1

Concern At Drop In Butter Price

(N.Z. Press Association)

HAMILTON, June 21. The fall in the price of New Zealand butter on the London market “could not have come at a worse time,” said the chairman of the dairy section of Waikato Federated Farmers (Mr T. Fitzsimons) today. He was referring to the drop to 322 s a cwt —los below the price needed to cover costs.

“My first reaction is unprintable,” Mr Fitzsimons said. “This drop, coming on top of a Budget that failed to make its intention clear regarding incentives for increased production, could leave dairy farmers at this time of the year in a quandary. “At this stage, the farmer is planning his new season’s production and considering just how far he can go in

increasing herd size,” he said. The further drop in price was serious to the New Zealand farmer, he said, and the balance of payments position. There was no indication that the price would even stabilise at the new level. The quota arrangements with the United Kingdom were agreed to at the outset, on the basis of a continuing supply from New Zealand on the one hand, and reasonable prices in Britain on the other. Since the original agreement was made New Zealand has made a significant gesture by keeping to a price which would assist both issues.

When prices for other supplies of butter reached figures of 380 s to 395 s a cwt, the price for New Zealand butter remained from 335 s to 3505. “I feel the New Zealand dairy farmer is entitled to ask whether this has been a wise policy to follow,” said Mr Fitzsimons.