THE FARM INDUSTRY

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 605, 7 September 1909, Page 8

THE FARM INDUSTRY

BUTTER PRICES. ' BUYERS BARGAINING FOR LOW LEVELS. RETAIL PRICE DROPPED. .• . Bargaining.'for' dairy , produce outputs this season' is having a singular beginning. ■ The wide gulf separating! buyers and sellers in their' ideas of values is almost unprecedented. Factory directors are asking about lid. ' per., pound—which :is scarcely f.nytbing below last season's, abnormal/prices'. They seem 'to ; find :it hard td'' ; get .'the delightful tasto of last season's .'figures. out 'of . 'their mouths.' Possibly;.the;high priceuvhich has been: ruling on the local markets this",winter has'..given; their, attitude some sort' of warrant, for while merchants .were asking 12Jd. ,per ..pound from the .grocers, it oy?aS. scarcely consistent' to ask . the factory authorities to quote IOJd. There is no doubt that butter has been kept dear in Wellington ; this . winter longer' than was , good for' the merchant's inter<wt. The local , p/ico 'has'-now been reduced by Id. per pound, so that the grocer :buys the dearest "brands at llld; and sells at 13d. The reduction began yesterday. Possibly .the reduction' was decided on- for the r ' ; purpose . of- correcting: any"bloated" ideas.of, values 'that'.-may exist in the factory districts, but in any. case it could >scarcely have : been, resisted much longer; in, the-face ,pf . the; levels of prices in England/ • The . incident of; fourteen bargainers .for 'butter/waiting ori a factory.lat Cambridge and ( failing to do any business because they failed to reach the reserve price, will probably | be repeated in most ..of the ..dairying districts iu;'tub; next few weeks. ; AVbilo. factory directors are standing pretty 'solid for.-, about lid.',- Ibnyers are. confining, their, : talk to fractions in tho vicinity of 10d., or, in special cases,-IOJd.. ,■ Neither. party' seems ill any hurry. to bridge tbo gap'.' -No doubt buyers who. lost money (as most of. them seem to have dono) last season will try to work on a margin that will . wipe off -tho ,;old ■'; score if jiossible. . Three firms are inentionetl as .liav'ing; caused'.the' oxcessive-rriso :of -prices last Season, and of these .three, ..two are not now. operating.: ; .The; interests of -..the. ; third, no doubt, ! ; will dictate moderation, , in -order ,to recoup;.the losses, they, incurred .in.xommon with other firms.,,'. ? . , On.' the j. whole,' both partiesi'are ,'a'iwaiting'game.'':; And perhaps', that is.'.the best policy for' the ; moment. -.'Sellets' may gradually ./realise that the prospects .are-not what', 1 they ,'were twelvo. months'tago,' ' and .buyers, may.i succeed , in'realising 'that, butter at;', Homo'ris 'prdmising 1 to recover /slightly from the'.deep descont it made on the Home market spnio ..liiontlis' ago. -: If no, such mutual cbnccs'sion:' should . occur; . it >may' r'bp,cbme an extoiisivo'consigning'.seflson. And in view . of . 'everything . it. (Joes look at the .present moment, as ;if ithat; might,' perhaps, after: a11,,b0 the best thing, ■