MARKET FOR PRODUCE

Manawatu Standard, Volume L, Issue 142, 15 May 1930, Page 7

MARKET FOR PRODUCE

NO DEPRECIATION EXPECTED. APRIL BUTTER-FAT PAYMENTS. ADVANCE RATES FIXED. Ranging in the vicinity of lid to Is for butter and Is 2d for cheese, advance rates have now been fixed by dairy companies operating in the Manawatu in payment for April supplies of but-ter-iat. With the market reported as steady and prices remaining low, dairy factories have, it is stated, adopted a fairly cautious policy, and shipments have been withheld in some cases by arrangement in order to ease the general position. It is reported that the forward cheese market is sounder than that for butter, but no great depreciation in the values. of either is anticipated. Adverse spring conditions at Home would be a big factor in stabilising New Zealand prices at a satisfactory figure. The Shannon Company, on the basis of an advance of Is, is _ distributing £6IOO to its suppliers this month for April butter-fat. The production last month was 66j tons of butter. The Awahuri Dairy Company has fixed its advance rate at lid and is paying out £5600 for April supplies of butterfat. The Kairanga Company is paying out to its suppliers at the rate of lid for butter ana Is 4d for cheese. Working on each alternate day, the Pike’s Road dairy factory is manufacturing twelve cheese each day. The rate of payment for April supplies of butterfat will be Is 3d Advances being made to cheese suppliers are £720 16s 5d by the Tiakitahuna Company, £775 3s by the Manawatu Reliance Company and £llOO 11s by the Tui Company. The Mangawhat a Company, at the rate of Is lid, is disbursing £1447, 14s for cheese and the Makowhai Company, at the rate of Is 2d, i$ paying out £B7O 14s. On a similar basis the Tokomaru Company is advancing £738 18s to its suppliers while on an advance fixed at Is Id, the Rangiotu Company is distributing £445 10s.

A pay-out of Is per lb for butter-fat supplied to the factory during April was decided on by the directors of the Levin Co-operative Dairy Coy., Ltd., at their monthly meeting. This is fivepence lower than the rate fixed for the corresponding month of last year. The pay-outs for the previous five months were at the following rates:—November Is sd, December Is 3d, January Is 3d, February Is 2d, March Is. Owing to the early advent of frosty mornings this autumn, the present output from the factory, at about 100 boxes a day, is slightly below what it was 12 months ago. The drought which characterised April—usually a rainy period —also had its effect, for the butterfat supplied to the factory showed a decrease of 1.6 per cent, on the quantity for April, 1929. The season’s output, however, is still ahead of that of the preceding year; to date it.is 1390 tons as compared with 1279 tons. Cream is still being collected every day by the company’s lorries. The question of when the collection will be made on alternate days depends, of course, on the extent to which the production is maintained; but it may not be until after the 20th. of this month. The alternate day. system will then probably last until August, when the cows come into milk again.