BUTTER SHIPMENTS

Evening Star, Issue 21636, 3 February 1934, Page 11

BUTTER SHIPMENTS

REGULARITY AND PRICE In the opinion of the ‘ New Zealand Dairyman,’ the cause of the low prices for New Zealand butter in London is irregularity in shipments. .This au ” thonty points out that the British markets can only absorb certain given quantities of any country’s butter, and it is evident that butter or cheese in excess of this quantity can only be disposed of at a discount. In tact, the price realised for this surplus determines the price for the whole. Nothing is to be gained, therefore, by shipping in excess of actual requirements. On the contrary, accumulations in London stores and abnormally high shipments afloat have a most depressing effect on the markets, states the ‘Dairyman.’ If butter has to be stored, it should be done m New Zealand, for butter stored in Britain, even for » few weeks, is “stale butter, while if stored in New Zealand it is still “fresh arrival.’’ The major fluctuations oh the London market can, almost invariably, be traced to the irregular shipping of New Zealand and Australian butter, and now that the Commonwealth producers _ are falling in line it behoves the New Zealand Board to bring about considerable improvements in its present system.