BUTTER PRICES

Evening Star, Issue 23130, 2 December 1938, Page 6

BUTTER PRICES

CHRISTCHURCH GROCERS STILL TO FIX NEW RATE [Pan United Peess Association.] CHRISTCHURCH, December 1. The new retail price for butter has not yet. been .fixed by the grocers in Christchurch, but it is likely that there• will be stabilisation within a few days. In .■ the meantime there _ are different prices. The rise in wholesale prices, which was announced by the Minister of Marketing (Mr Nash), will mean some rise in the retail price. Retailers do not fear that the increase will mean much curtailment in business, but every penny on the price means that there is a certain amount of economising by housewives. Retailers recall, however, that butter sold with, little change in volume when it was as high as 2s 3d. The retail profit made on butter has been very modest, most retailers claiming that it has not paid expenses, but as butter is a line which every grocer must carry there is no escaping the position. In most parts of New Zealand butter has been at one time or another the subject ,of price cutting, and at times when price cutting-has become fierce grocers have had, to sell below cost. With the fixing of the wholesale price, retail prices in most centres have been stabilised, but competition among the grocers has kept the margin of profit very low.