Higher Prices For Cheese, Bacon And Ham Expected

Greymouth Evening Star, 27 September 1947, Page 2

Higher Prices For Cheese, Bacon And Ham Expected

Increases in the retail price of cheese, and in the wholesale prices of bacon and ham, are expected to come into operation next month. The Canterbury Master Grocers’ Association has been advised that the price of cheese will be increased from is 2d to Is 6d a pound, and it is likely that the price increase will also apply to lines of processed cheese. Bacon curers have been advised that as a result of the withdrawal of the anndal subsidy of £260,000, which held prices to approximate 1939 levels, increased wholesale prices for bacon and ham will operate from September 29. The increases are 4d a pound for sides of bacon and 4§d for rolls, ; ?d a pound for flat hams, and l|d a pound for cooked and boneless ham. These increases will be passed on directly, but so far there has been nq advice of a corresponding increase in the retail prices. The rise in the retail price of ham is not expected to be large, as the subsidy was lifted in May, when wholesale prices rose sld a pound. As a result of the increase of Is lid a pound in the price of tea, the highest price for the principal lines will now be 5s sjd a pound. There was no exceptional demand for tea and sugar, and grocers said that householders did not try to stock up before the increase in prices, which operates on Monday. If the increased prices had come into force in the middle of a rationing period, there might have been a rush to use current coupons before the extra Is lid for tea and 2ld for sugar were added.