BUTTER AND CHEESE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16327, 6 September 1916, Page 8

BUTTER AND CHEESE.

PROSPECT OF HIGH PRICES.

The price of butter remains high, and there appears to be no early prospect of a reduction, states a Wellington newspaper. Soveral merchants told a reporter that the trend of the market for dairy produce was all against any substantial reduction in prices in the near future. Australian factories are reported to have sold a very large quantity of cheese to the Imperial authorities at 8d a pound, f.0.b., but the requirements of the army are enormous, and with a big reduction in Dutch and Danish supplies there appears to be no sign of any diminution in tho demand from tho United Kingdom at very high prices. New Zealand fac-'' tories with dual plants are dovoting their attention entirely to cheese, and the number of factories producing butter tends to decline.

Cheese has been bought for export in Taranaki at prices at high as 9j|d a pound. It is stated that one factory recently refused 9|d a pound for its season's output, but this refusal—if it actually took place--is regarded as decidedly speculative. The bearing of these cheese prices upon the price of butter is shown by the fact that ono Taranaki factory has sold its August output of cheese at a price equivalent to 2s per pound of butter-fat. This factory is stated to bo making progress payments at tho rate of Is 9d per pound of butter-fat to its suppliers. ,