MARGARINE USE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22439, 20 September 1947, Page 8

MARGARINE USE

U.K. BUTTER MARKET PRICE LEVEL VARIATION Unless the price of butler was kept within a reasonable limit of that of margarine, the latter would eventually secure the greater part of the market, according to Mr. W. N. Perry, Dominion president of Federated Farmers of New Zealand, when speaking recently of the menace of margarine to the butter market in the United Kingdom. At present butter sold in Britain at the subsidised price of Is Gd per lb. and margarine sold at 9d and 5d per lb. depending on the grade, said Mr. Perry. If those consumer subsidies were removed butter would rise to 2s 33d per lb. and margarine only to Is ljd. Margarine quality was excellent and its production was mainly controlled by one of Britain’s largest companies with thousands of retail shops receiving fresh supplies daily. Mr. Perry said he was afraid that New Zealand was building up such a high internal cost structure that she would not be able to compete with margarine when conditions again became normal. Present shortages and subsidies protected butter, but once they were removed, consumption of butter would certainly decrease if the price remained high.