PRICE OF SUGAR

Marlborough Express, Volume LIV, Issue 185, 6 August 1920, Page 6

PRICE OF SUGAR

6Jd. APPROVED BY BOARD OF

TRADE

A statement was made by the Board of Trade relative to the price of sugar. The Board refers to the retail price of 6}d per pound in the following terms:—■

"By felling sugar at 6£d per lb., or £60 13s 4d per tun, the gross return to the grocer would bo 20.03 per cent., and after deducting say 16 per cent, for overhead, a not profit of 4 per cent, would not bo more than a fair reward for the retailer's services to the community. The Board, therefore, after carefully reviewing the case, both from the consumer's and the retailer's point of view, and after making full allow-, ance for the increased turnover due to the increased cost of sugar, and tho fact that overhead expenses have not immediately increased in the same ratio, has decided to approve of a, flat rate of 6£d per lb. for all sales stibject to the customary discounts. It is to be understood that the price is not fixed at 6|d, and any retailer, for the purpose of competition, may sell at less than 6|d, but anyone in the main centres selling at a price in excess of G£d per lb., or its equivalent when transit charges are incurred, is Hnble to the penalties imposed for a breach of regulations issued under the Board of "Trade Act, 1919."