Bigger butter profit sought

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32588, 23 April 1971, Page 3

Bigger butter profit sought

(N.Z. Press Association) AUCKLAND, April 22. The National Association of Retail Grocers has . asked the Price Tribunal for an increase in the profit margin on butter. It is understood that the minimum rise acceptable would be 1c per lb, raising the retail price to 30c.

In a letter to the Pricei Tribunal, the secretary of the; grocers’ association (Mr R. 1 M. Barker) said: “Probably you are aware that the current margin of 1.25 c per lb is exactly the same as it was when the price of butter was first fixed by the Price Tribunal in 1939. At that time butter cost retailers 16.5 d per lb and the retail price was Is 6d. In 1939 the margin of profit on sale was 8.33 per cent —today it is 4.12 per cent. “A grocer, like other retailers, must base his operations on percentages. Implicit in this policy is the fact that if turnover increases at the same rate as overheads in-

crease, then profitability is maintained. Such a policy, of course, is based on the assumption that retail margins remain constant.”

Wage rates today were almost four times as great as they were in 1939. The letter also asked for an inquiry if the tribunal was unwilling to grant the increase on the basis of the arguments presented.