LONDON BUTTER MARKET

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 128, 24 February 1938, Page 14

LONDON BUTTER MARKET

New Zealand Firms To 116/By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. (Received February 23, 5.5 p.m.) London, February 22. The butter market is firm. Choicest salted New Zealand and Australian butter is quoted at 116/- a cwt.and unsalted Australian at 118/-. The latest quotation for salted butter represents an advance of 3/- a cwt. since last Friday! \ SHORTAGE OF STEEL Position In Australia Considerable embarrassment has been caused throughout Australia by the great difficulty experienced in obtaining adequate supplies of iron and steel goods, says the 'Melbourne “Argus.” Manufacturers -are working at full pressure in an endeavour to meet all requirements, but deliveries are still considerably behind. Although the Broken Hill Proprietary Co., Ltd., at its Newcastle works, is working continuously three shifts a day, the company is unable to keep pace with the volume of orders being received. The greatly increased demand has been caused by the great expansion of the building and engineering trades in Australia in the last two years, and not by any exceptional demands for armament purposes as has been the case in Britain. In Britain undelivered orders still amount to considerable proportions, but it is hoped that the record rate of output this year will soon enable manufacturers to meet back deliveries. In Australia, deliveries are in some cases up to seven and eight months behind, and ’the shortage is being felt particularly in galvanised iron goods. , To ease the situation somewhat, the Minister for Customs (Lieut.-Colonel White) has authorised the importation duty free of a quantity of galvanised iron sheets and black steel sheets in a desire to prevent unemployment in the building and metal-working industries, which have been handicapped for some time by the shortage of supplies. It is probable that further authorisations of this nature will be sought. Because of the general rise of production costs, the Broken Hill Proprietary Company made a general increase of wholesale steel mill prices by from 5/to 20/- a ton as from January 4 last. Despite this increase in prices, quotations for all types of iron and steel goods are actually lower in Australia than in any other country in the world. Steel plates now cost in Australia £ll a ton; the price for the same commodity in London is £l2 a ton f.o.b. The landed price in Australia would be about £22 a ton.

Thus, even if British manufacturers were in a position to meet orders from Australia, imports from that source at present prices would be prohibited to all intents and purposes by reason of the great disparity in values. Although some iron and steel is being shipped to New Zealand, it is stated that such exports are so small that they are playing practically no part in accentuating the present shortage in the Commonwealth. N.Z. Pound Abroad Based on figures quoted by the Bank of New South Wales, the New Zealand pound, compared with its original par value, is qulvalent to approximately:— 16/1 in London. £l/0/1 in Australia. 16/6J in U.S.A. 10/61 in Canada. 19/8 In France. 16/6} in Italy. 9/8} in Germany. 11/9} in Java. £l/8/1 in Japan.