NEW ZEALAND DAIRY PRODUCE.

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXXI, Issue 4960, 25 February 1937, Page 4

NEW ZEALAND DAIRY PRODUCE.

It would seem that .another crisis is facing the dairy produce industry of this Dominion. Owing to the guaranteed prices of the Government, the producer has not felt the effects of the slump in London prices, but the present outlook is not one for optimism. A general drop in prices would not be so much a matter of concern if the statistical position warranted such a drop, but the position in this way should be strongly in favour* of New Zealand as there is less of the Dominion’s butter in London than was the case at this time last year. Another disconcerting feature is that inferior Continental butter is on a parity with the New Zealand article. We are accustomed to Danish butter obtaining a substantial premium over New Zealand butter, but we have always managed to secure something above those obtained for Russian, Polish, and even Australian. Now our superiority in this way has been lost. The quality of our butter has not deteriorated, and the British consumers rank it next in favour to Danish. New Zealand exports about 140,000 tons of butter every year. At the current price the New Zealand Government —which means the New Zealand taxpayer—under the guaranteed price policy, is losing £2O on every ton exported, which means a loss of 22 million pounds. The prices at the start of the season were somewhat above the guaranteed price, so the loss will not reach that sum. At the same time the situation is serious, and it is the duty of the Government to try and discover the reason for the slump in prices for New Zealand dairy produce. One reason given is that the purchasing firms in London are antagonistic to the New Zealand Government's marketing plan. Mr. Nash will make an investigation regarding the situation and attempt to find out the cause of the slump in prices. It would pay the country well to have an exhaustive enquiry on the wholesale and retail selling of our dairy produce in Britain. One of the problems is, have our butter and cheese been sold to the consumers in a fresh state? Retailers in Britain are not concerned about trade with the Empire countries. They may have New Zealand produce on their shelves for days and weeks before being sold, and it only wants a few such cases will seriously affect further sales. The Danes take every precaution against such an evil and this is to a large degree responsible for their success on the British market. The Government can take every precaution to land our butter in the cool stores in London in a fresh condition, but what use is that if it is ultimately delivered to the customer with all its bloom vanished and in some instances in a putrid state?