BUTTER TRADE

Grey River Argus, 23 April 1925, Page 5

BUTTER TRADE

AMERICAN FEARS Of New Zealand Imports HIGHER DUTY ASKED. (I'rrrivrd April 22 :it !». 5 p.m.) WASHINGTON, April 21. Beckiring the cost of producing bnt*<•l in Denmark, New Zealand anJ Aus. tialia is greatly below the produ<-tion cost - in the L’liilod States, which aver ag« (! between 59.9 and 61.5 rents per lb the Amerir.-m Farm Bureau Asstn ia lion Jias petit join'd the Federal Tariff Commission to recommend President Coolidge to raise the tariff on butter from eight tn twelve ' euts per Hi. The Association alleges that Now Zealand is potentially a greater com- . pat-tor than Denmark, the latter piebiblv having reached its maximum prodiw’ion, while Now Zealand production ha.- 'iicrpasod practieallv 120 per cent in the last si-ven \-e.-ns, and is Fkelv to b<‘ doubled in the next decade. Tin Association’s statement dedal ed that Denmark and New Zealand are in a position to dump butter on fo the American market with impunity. A wist amount of storage butter in the i nitod States has been consumed, ami the country is now down to a normal basis, with a much bettor prospect for the American farmer getting the cost of production for his butter <at . 'Pho I'nitod States output <.i ,'i.is commodity however, will decrease rapidly, unless, more adequate protection is afforded. T'lofossor Mackin, of the I’niversilc of Wisconsin, testifying - before the <'om mission, said that he had sp< nt three months in .\’ew Zealand in 192-1. studying the dairying methods and he was convinced that the butter producers there are far ahead of the Americans in the matter of modern methods of producing and in business dTJogemenfs. Therefore, they ar' 1 able to make butter at a lower cost than is possible in the I’niled States President Munn, of the National Daily Council, testified that although the I nited States produced annuallv 2006 million lbs of butter, lhe import a. t ion of 25 million lbs has be- n sufficient lo break the domestic market, al vari oik times, from 5 to 17 cents per lb.