Hopes Lie In Dairy Talks

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31915, 17 February 1969, Page 20

Hopes Lie In Dairy Talks

(New Zealand Press Association) WHAKATANE, February 16. “New Zealand is pinning its future economic hopes on a General Agreement on Tariff and Trade working party on dairy products at Geneva this month,” said Mr Allen, Minister of Works and Police, at Whakatane yesterday.

He said the country’s efficiency as a low-cost producer of agricultural products brought many prob-

Department of Agriculture, as saying. Dr Terrill has been attending the annual meeting of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production, in Hamilton. Dr Terrill said he felt more optimistic about New Zealand's future as an agricultural food producer than he did about many other countries.

lems. “Far and away the most pressing are connected with finding markets for our products when both actual and potential markets for this produce are closed or restricted,” he said.

“There is a growing protectionism in the United States. The British market for cheese is heavily over-supplied by countries dumping subsidised exports, and butter stocks in Britain are extremely heavy.” By April there would be 120,000 tons of butter in store in England and 80,000 tons of that would be from New Zealand.

“We are doing all we can at the diplomatic level to counter the severe limitations on imports to the United States and the recent restraint required on exports of beef and veal,” said Mr Allen. Prolonged representations in Britain had not succeeded in bringing a solution to the over-supply of Cheddar cheese.

“The agricultural policy of the European Economic Community has created a vast surplus of agricultural produce behind a bulwark of protectionism,” said Mr Allen. Repercmsioni “The E.E.C. policy for disposing of these surpluses has ihad repercussions on New Zealand’s trade in the same commodities and has helped create the present disordered state of international trade in agricultural produce.” New Zealand’s agricultural marketing problems were similar to those faced by farmers in many parts of the world, including the United States, the Press Association reports Dr C. E. Terrill, director of the sheep and goat division of the United States