THE LONDON BUTTER MARKET.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1507, 17 January 1901, Page 53

THE LONDON BUTTER MARKET.

In Ins last report to the Agricultural Department, dated December Ist, the New Zealand Government Produce Commissioner in London explains, wny the market for colonial butter is in such a satisfactory state. Mr Cameron says: “The weather during the past few weeks lias been responsible in a very great measure for a great absence (if iife in the butter market. A continuance of such mild, damp, instead of cold, wintry weather, up to the end of November. as has been rtiling, is quite unseasonable and upsets any calculations that may have been made as to- the requirements of the market at this time of the year. The supplies of' butter received from the Continent have, fortunately for colonial producers, been failing off very rapidly, and the quantity lately coming to hand has been much less than last year. Canadian supplies have also been less, the makers in tnat colony evidently giving their attention more to cheese making than to the production of butter. Supplies from Australia, which, it was anticipated, would show' an enormous increase, have also been less than for the same period of last year. So that, although buyers for a time held back, believing quotations would come lower, prices all round have

twelve months ago, while during tno past ten days a considerable firmness bas manifested itself. This firmness is particularly noticeable in relation' to choicest qualities, of which there seem t) be only short supplies available. From the accounts received from the colony of the expected improvement in the quality of this season/s output, it is to be anticipated that the bulk of them w T ill coin© under the class ‘choicest,’ and consequently participate in the good prices ruling for that grade. Quotations for choicest quality are from 107 s to lids, with an occasional 112 s for a few 7 selected brands, and 9Ss to 1043 for ‘finest. Appearances point to a continuance t f the present quotations, at ldast up to Christmas.” Referring to his forecast in regard to the butter market, made in a previous report. Mr Cameron says : “I am pleased to confess that I was w rong ip my estimate of prices when 1 reported some months ago. I -then said that wdtile I expected there wouldbe a good demand at payable prices, I did not anticipate such high rates as ruled last year at the opening of the season. They 7 have been, instead, iiigner. This emphasises the difficulty there is in forecasting the prospects of Die market. The small lots of new season’s hotter from New Zealand that have been-put on the market have been.satisfactory, but they, of course, can not yet be taken as a fair sample on which to report.”