U.K. butter fears

Press, 29 April 1981, Page 15

U.K. butter fears

NZPA London Many of Britain’s leading food companies have expressed their concern about the shortage of butter supplies for manufacturing, caused by the European Economic Community’s policy of exporting cheap butter. especially to iron Curtain countries. They also fear that as an emergency measure the E.E.C. in Brussels might put up the price of butter for manufacturing which could raise the price of thousands of food lines as the increase is passed on to consumers.

The E.E.C. Commission has admitted that because of its exporting policy, the “butter mountain” has crashed from its August, 1979, peak of 590,000 tonnes to less than 40,000 tonnes — little more than one week's supply. Fears of a butter shortage have been heightened because traders are committed to exporting big quantities of butter outside the Community, even though there are not enough stocks in private store to meet this demand. For several months the E.E.C. has been selling off butter to East European

countries at heavily subsidised prices, at the taxpayers’ expense, rather than meet the higher cost of stor-' ing it. Much of the stockpile is already earmarked for Poland as part of a food-aid programme agreed to by the Common Market last year. The situation has been made worse by the heavy demand on world markets, which shows no sign of weakening and which has pushed up world prices by more than 50 per cent in the last year.