N.Z. butter sales in U.K. recovering

Press, 28 August 1979, Page 20

N.Z. butter sales in U.K. recovering

By KEN, COATES in Lpndon, Bptons • are again spreading Mew' Zealand butter liberally- on their toast and muffins As sales return to about normal. Sales of Anchor, the . New Zealand brarid, are expected to reach just over 2000 tonnes this

week, just below the usual volume. This is a marked improvement on the crisis last month when the European Economic Community decided on a new consumer subsidy for Euro- ■ pean butter without compensatory action for New Zealand butter. After strenuous protests, the levy was adjusted to make New Zealand butter again competitive on the British market, but not before sales had plunged to below 1000 tonnes a week. The New Zealand Dairy Board, which sells through its subsidiary. Anchor Foods, Ltd, still faces the uphill task of selling more then 3000 tonnes a week if it is to fulfil this year's 120,000 tonne quota. The managing director of Anchor (Mr Murray Gough) has mixed feelings about the present trend. “We have demonstrated that our product has a demand in Britain so long as we can be competitive in pricing,’’ he said. “If we had not had the disaster in the early part of this year, we would be happy with rates we expect to get this week arid next. “We need something like 2300 to 2400 tonnes a •week consistently, and we’re starting to get to that level no'w.” He declined to estimate

how far sales of New Zealand butter could be pushed, but he indicated that to clear the 1979 quota awe than 3500 tonnes a . week would need to be sold frqm now on; “This-.wow be around 55 per cent t® 60 per cent of the market, and to be realistic, 'i( is pretty unlikely we will achieve that with any regularity." It would be “increasingly difficult,” to push sales much beyond 3000 tonnes a week. E.E.C. butter-producing countries, notably France, the Netherlands, and West Germany, look with envy at New Zealand’s share of the market. They seek a greater share through a voluntary reduced quota for this year and next, and a diminished annual quota after 1981, partly compensated for by higher prices. The Dairy Board is watching sales in Britain with some anxiety. Any surge beyond the "present level might result in a backlash from E.E.C. but-ter-supplying countries, and an attempt to increase the levy against the New Zealand product. Against this there is pressure to ' fulfil the quota of 120,000 tonnes because it will certainly, be of importance in the coming negotiations for quotas from 1981 and beyond.