THE BUTTER TRADE.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 473, 3 April 1909, Page 3

THE BUTTER TRADE.

. EXPLANATION OF THE. SEA SON. . _ Messrs. Samuel Pago and Son, London, in their circular, write as follows regarding the butter season-.-"There is no doubt that the butter trade to-day still suffers from causes Bet up by the abnormally high rates o£ a year ago. Small retailers, wholesale houses, and largo . shopkeepers. ;all; agree .that the trade generally has never regained tho ground lost through the panic' prices of that time. The masses, driven by the impossible price of butter to buy margarine,, found the latter a remarkably good makeshift, and a* great many have remained content with the change, to the great profit of the margarine industry, which has developed enormously in consequence. In a previous circular, we. have adverted to another way in which the boom has . adversely affected tho market this winter. ■ We refer to the rash buying and storing last summer of large quantities of - butter—Siberian, Danish, French.. Irish, , etc.—as an insurance against a possible repetition of ruinously high prices at a time of .scarcity. These prices have turned out most disastrously. They were m&de upon too high a basis of Tallies for carrying over for months, and there has been no Scarcity. Consequently holders have, during the past few months, been forced to realise on' tho best terms possible, which involved, in many cases, losses'of 12s. to lGs. per cvt. upon very large quantities. In fact, stocks of cold-stored goods' have seemed, endless. In addition to enormous blocks in England, there have also been accumulations on the Continent-Hn Denmark, Germany, Russia,' and France—which shippers have eagerly consigned on the slightest sign of encouragement from this ■ market."