Britain takes action on N.Z. butter
From
KEN COATES
in London
Emergency arrangements are being made with the British Treasury to enable New Zealand butter to be sold competitively again on the British market. Because E.E.C. authorities failed to cut the special import levy, Anchor brand butter sales stopped in London at the end of last week.
But the New Zealand Dairy Board in London believes the Treasury has undertaken to pay a temporary direct subsidy on 2500 tonnes of butter. This will have the effect of moving it off the shelves again in competition with the lower priced British and Continental brands.
The managing director of Anchor Foods (Mr Murray Gough) said the proposed measures would
keep New Zealand butter sales going in Britain for about a week. But it was hoped that before that time was up the E.E.C. management committee for milk products would have held an emergency meeting to carry out the decision of the Common Market Agriculture Ministers to cut the special import levy on New Zealand butter. It was the failure of the committee to cut the levy which left the price of New Zealand butter well above other brands and brought already sagging sales to a standstill. It is thought that the temporary subsidy arranged by the Treasury will be at 12c a pound for Anchor brand butter. The move follows a statement by Britain's
Minister of Agriculture (Mr Peter Walker) that he was shocked that the decision of the Ministers had not been carried out. He sent a strongly worded telegram to Brussels protesting against the failure of the committee to cut the special levy. Normally the level would be 2300 tonnes a week throughout the year but sales had dropped to between 1500 and 1600 tonnes a week, he said. It was still hoped that New Zealand would sell its entitlement of 120,000 tonnes this year. The Dairy Board hopes that the reduction in the special E.E.C. import levy will be sufficient to stimulate sales and offset the fall.
Earlier report, Page 2.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19790703.2.6
Bibliographic details
Press, 3 July 1979, Page 1
Word Count
342Britain takes action on N.Z. butter Press, 3 July 1979, Page 1
Using This Item
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Press. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 New Zealand licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Copyright in all Footrot Flats cartoons is owned by Diogenes Designs Ltd. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise these cartoons and make them available online as part of this digitised version of the Press. You can search, browse, and print Footrot Flats cartoons for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Diogenes Designs Ltd for any other use.
Acknowledgements
This newspaper was digitised in partnership with Christchurch City Libraries.
Log in