N.Z. BUTTER FOR CANADA: SALE DEFENDED

Greymouth Evening Star, 15 October 1948, Page 2

N.Z. BUTTER FOR CANADA: SALE DEFENDED

(P.A.) WELLINGTON, October 'l4. From the standpoint of marketing her dairy produce, it was imperative that New Zealand should keep trade channels open in other countries, said the chairman of the Dairy Products Marketing Commission (Mr W. Marshall) today. He was commenting on the export of 1000 tons of New Zealand butter to Canada. The Wellington Master Grocers’ Association had earlier said that the transaction was a major cause of irritation to it, and that it thought the continuation of butter rationing in New Zealand would not help Britain. Mr Marshall said that New Zealand’s contract with Britain provided for the shipment to the United Kingdom or British dependencies nominated by the United Kingdom, of 97 per cent, of New Zealand’s exportable surplus of butter and cheese on a butter-fat basis. 3 Per Cent. Available

“Calculated on last season’s exports of about 130,000 tons of butter and 80,000 tons of cheese, the 3 per cent, available to the commission for sale in other markets equals 3900 tons of butter and 2400 tons of cheese,” said Mr Marshall. “From the standpoint of marketing dairy produce, it is imperative that New Zealand, while selling the bulk of its exportable surplus to Britain, should keep trade channels open in other countries, because we shall not always have a sellers’ market, and it would be unwise to allow our competitors a clear field in what may be valuable markets to New Zealand. “Denmark, our chief pre-war competitor, who previously exported little or no butter to Canada, is this year selling her 5000 tons. Canadian goods are necessary to New Zealand. Canada is, in value, the fourth highest country from which we obtain imports, and exports to Canada from New Zealand are only about onequarter of the value of imports from Canada.

“These imports from Canada must be paid for in hard currency, and most of the 3 per cent, sales of butter are securing hard currencies, thereby assisting the Empire pool. “The commission is strongly of the opinion that the 3 per cent, of our exportable surplus, reserved after consultation with the United Kingdom Ministry of Food, for ‘free’ sale anywhere, is an irreducible minimum for that purpose, and that any increased consumption in New Zealand could, therefore, only reduce the amount available for Britain. 97 Per Cent for Britain “In other words, 97 per cent, of all the butter saved by rationing in New Zealand goes to the United Kingdom. The Ministry of Food, when members of the commission were in London recently, expressed high appreciation of the additional quantities that rationing in New Zealand made available for it, and emphasised the great difficulty that it would have in maintaining Britons’ meagre ration if rationing were abolished in New Zealand and Australia. “The consumption of factory butter in New Zealand now is about 21,000 tons per annum, and if all the exportable surplus outside the 97 per cent contracted for with the Ministry of Food were retained in New Zealand, the ration could be increased by only l£oz a person each week.”