Move to hold price of milk in Chch

Press, 23 July 1987, Page 2

Move to hold price of milk in Chch

Canterbury Dairy Fanners, Ltd, intends to recommend that there be no increase in the price of milk sold in the Christchurch metropolitan area. The New Zealand Federation of Milk Stations recently said that with the Introduction of deregulation on September 1, some stations would have to recover increased costs outside their control. Stations in each area have been asked to recommend to the New Zealand Milk Board a consumer price to be effective from that date. The chief executive of Canterbury Dairy Farmers, Mr Barry Hogan, said that while the station had incurred a backlog of costs, it was also a case of keeping down additional costs to the consumer so that quantities sold would not be affected. Milk sales in Christchurch have increased in recent months for the first time since the mid-19705. Mr Hogan said that sales had been declining since February 1, 1976, when the Government subsidy on milk was lifted. At that time, a 600 ml bottle cost Bc. The last increase was in October, 1986, when the price rose from 40c to 45c a bottle, and Mr Hogan sees this time lapse as one of the reasons for the upturn in sales. “In Christchurch the consumers have just started to buy again, and we don’t want to ruin it by putting the price up... It is giving us a better spread of fixed costs.”

While there is no guarantee that milk prices in Christchurch will not increase, Mr Hogan said he could only assume that the request for a recommendation by the station had been genuine, and that prices would not change.