CONDENSED MILK

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 220, 11 June 1920, Page 6

CONDENSED MILK

RETAIL PRICE INCREASED. Within the Inst few days the price of condensed milk in Wellington has risen to Is. ft tin in the large majority of tho retail shops. Tho price generally ruling beforo 'the advance was lOd. per tin. A few retailers who formerly wero eell-f ing at !kl. per tin have advanced tho prico. to' lid. The -increase of 2d. per tin has coincided, as far ae Wellington is concerned, with a shortage of fresh milk, and the demand for condensed milk during recent days has teen particularly active. Some of tho consumers have protested thait they wero being exnloited. Making inquiries on the subject yesterday, a Dominion? reporter learned that on April 1 last the Board of Trade, which controls tho wholesale' price of condensed millc, authorised an increase of the wholesale price from 3Ss: to 40s. per case. This price was subject to the usual trado discounts. Tho incrcaso of 2s. per case represented an advance of Jd. per tin. The retail advance of 2d. per tin seems to have been based on this wholesale advance of id. per tin. The manufacturers explain that ths cost of producing condensed' milk lias increased enormously since 1911, when a standard brand of New Zealand milk was sold retail at 6d. per tin. Tho price of tin plates lias advanced about 300 per cent. Tho milk has to bo bought In competition with the butter and cheese factories. Labour and fuel are much more expensive. The prico of.a tin of condensed milk in Sydney i 6 now Is. 3d., the difference being accounted for in part by tho high price of sugar in Australia.