DAIRY INDUSTRY.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 255, 25 September 1935, Page 6

DAIRY INDUSTRY.

IMPRESSIVE FIGURES

VALUE TO MANAWATU

Figures which have been compiled on the basis of tonnages recorded in factory balance-sheets for the past season show the great value of the dairying industry to the Manawatu and adiacent districts. Fourteen butter companies operating in this area had an output aggregating over 11,000 tons, which, valued at an average figure of 90s a cwt. (£9O a ton), represents £990,000. Most of this group of companies are established within very ehsy distance of Palmerston North, and six of the largest paid out bonuses totalling £167,931 at the end of the season.

There is a cluster of small cheese companies in the Manawatu, but goiim further afield up to a radius of 50 miles, to cover the network of 23 factories of this class, their output during the past season is computed at 5936 tons, which at 50s a cwt. represents £296,800.

Taking this figure roughly as £300,000, and adding to it the £990.000 for the butter companies, the gross value of tho combined outputs is assessed at '£1,290.000.

By way of an interesting contrast, the files of the “Standard” of 30 ypars ago show that the Agricultural Department’s annual report had stated that it was expected that the butter oxports would reach “the £2,000,000 mark,” but climatic conditions had prevented that. The total value of butter and cheese exported in 1904-5 had been £1,878,500.