DECLINING BUTTER PRICES

Manawatu Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 2314, 5 December 1925, Page 7

DECLINING BUTTER PRICES

The London butter market continues to decline. Messrs. Joseph Nathan and Co., Ltd., received a cablegram for their London office quoting butter at 196/- to 200/- per cwt. The message adds that the market is depressed under the influence of attempted sales of stale stored buttei from recent overseas arrivals on an unwilling market. Commenting on this advice, a prominent exporter said that it used to be thought that butter could be stored for five or six months without injury, but the trade was now educated to distinguish butter that had been long in store. It did not go rancid or fishy, but it had not got tho fresh nutty flavour that should belong to tho best butter. What quantity of stale butter was being - offered in London the exporter could not estimate. Possibly it was a small surplus from the 1921-25 season’s make which could not bo shipped promptly owing - to tho seamen's strike. On the other hand, it might be produce held in store in New Zealand to take advantage of the higher prices that generally obtained in London in the autumn. In any case, the effect of this stale buttei" on London prices should be a warning to producers generally and to the Dairy Control Board particularly that butter could not be held in store for long periods without affecting its quality. The trade in London was alive to the fact that depreciation followed prolonged storage and would discriminate accordingly. While agreeing generally with these views, another exporter said that there must be some weak feature in the market apart from stale stocks to account for the decline. He believed that there wore only a few thousand boxes of stale butter offering. They should have been shipped from Wellington in August or September, but the strike intervened. So small a quantity would not greatly influence a strong market, but if, as appeared to be the case, there was a weakness, an effort to clear stale stocks must depreciate prices. This was especially th e cas e at present, as the London trade could await the arrival from New Zealand of freshly-made stocks which were an route.