AMERICAN BUTTER MARKET

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 88, 13 April 1923, Page 7

AMERICAN BUTTER MARKET

A NEW ZEALAND VENTURE. *' . The New York "Exporters" and Importers' Journal" reports that in its December issue brief reference was made, editorially, to a consignment of butter, on its way to the United States from New Zealand. <The importation turns out to be unprecedently large andi worthy of special mention as one of the curiosities and apparent anomalies of our foreign trade. The shipment consists of 120,000 boxes of butter, the value of which here ig quoted at about 3,000,000 dollars. It was bought from the producers,' according to a statement by the Harriman National Bank, New York, at an average price of seventeen pence, at' current rftte of exchange about 32 cents, and will cost the importers, including duty, freight, insurance, and other expenses, in neighbourhood of 43 cents per pound. "Butter of the same quality is selling in New York at the present time for from 55 to 58 cents a pound, to that after making a voyage of between 5000 and 6000 miles by sea and crossing the continent by rail, it will still leave a respectable profit for the vendors in New York. "That in itself is interesting, but it is not the point at which we are aiming. During the year 1921, we exported butter to the value of 3,269.609 dollars, tvhich was a considerable falling-off from the preceding year, when our butter exports were valued at 10,142^403 dollars, or from 1919, when they reached a value of 17,504,446 dollars. Why. with all this butter to send abroad, arc wS importing the commodity in considerable quantities from Denmark and other countries, and from far off New Zealand? "There is another interesting sic]e to the transaction. Tn"e 3,000,000 dollars' worth of butter came to our shores in a British, ship from a British colciny. It was insxvred by Lloyd's in London, and 1 the money paid for it goes out of. the country. Here is a direct loss to America of quite a respectable sum; and who is to blame ? Are our dairymen incapable of producing sufficient butter to meet home requirements, or are they receiving a better price for it in foreign markets than the home consumer is willing to pay? It is an interesting problem for the political economist to work out, the solution of which may shed light on other curiosities and. apparent inconsistencies in our foreign trade transactions."