BUTTER SHORTAGE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 15396, 7 March 1912, Page 11

BUTTER SHORTAGE

IS TIIKKK A RING? CURIOUS KCT.AIL POSITION. (I'"i:om Or it Ows ConnrsroxnENT.) LONHON", January 2?. Tlio luttor markot is in an inlorostiiiK fl.'it"'. prioi-s, liy rc,-.f<in (if l;:st summer's ilroupiit, liavo reached a. rocord, and vol, FiMiiKP to say, thp retailors are not in»r« In Inn puMic;. in sown (|iiartor> is expressed that ttiiiecrted iiction is licing to lmld up tin; supplios from the world's dairies, lint this is emphatically denied tiv tJ:« largo importing linns. A senior partner in an important company <l<xlar«^<l: "It. is aheolmoly ineorr<v,t to siißßO.tt that we lire coriicrinj,' iho supply. If a movement of that kind were afoot I eonld not fail to hear ot it; and I am prepared to slake my reputation on the aftcriion that tlte pr<»ent. shortage is whollv trateable to eoonotnic c.nisrs. First "f all, the rceord Continental drought of last year, coupled with the ravti'/es of fjio forit-aml-mtmlh discuso, reduced the Mippli<v v«-ry seriously, and prevented the accumulation of htitlor in the cold stores to ftrengtlien the winter supply. And in addition to hi,;, tiicre was a great diminution hi the Australian shpment at the tagiiming o[ (he season. Three. \w*ks ago wo had an official telegram from .Melhoiirno stating liiat the shortage in shipments up to that dato was JOOO tons, orwnpurod with the corresponding three months of last year. During the first 16 <la.ys of last February, again, we drew upon Australia to the extent of 165,000 boxes of Irutter; hut this February wo sliall not get inoro tlian 110,000 l«ios. From this source alone, therefore, tlio supply has shrunk by 33 per ccnt. Tliis is why people are beginning to buy a Utllo butter; tlicy want something in and to tido them oyer llie ascertained sliorta'go in tho Australian supply. " I should say no oi.o m t.hoir senses would endoavour to hold up fJi« availablo butter when prices aro about 50 tw oent. almvo tJio normal. If thoro had been any manipulation of this kind, surely now would I* the moment lo lot tho butter go. Tho fact of tho matter is, thero is no butter to "comer," and thero is not likely to bo muoli rcdiiolion m prioc until tho middle of May. when tho Continental supplies will come along. If, however, Siberia opens up earlier, we may experience somo relief in April. At present the shortago in supply is universal." THE SMALf, DKALER. Tho Westminster Gazette interviewed a general provision (tailor in North London, who said: " I am miito convinced that cither Ihn iniicrrtere or tlie big trading companies aro unduly witliholding tho butter supplies. Of course wo all havo to buy a lil(.|o in adyajieo of our requirements, but tho quantities in the cold stores at this moment, unless a good many of us aro strangely misinformed, cannot lie explained in this firnple fashion. To small dealers, liko myeolf, tho mischief of the imvtter is that we e.uuiot. pass tho riso rrn lo tho consumer for fear of losing his custom aJtogothcr. T am buying Australian ami New Zealand butler, wheJi only gives me a margin of Id per lb, ami I know retailors who are actually losing upon ihoir butter trade. This kinii of trading may Iks profitable to tho big stores, but it spoils disaster to the small trader. And Ikiw can wo put up tho prices while tho stores keep lliom down? Most of our butter, of course, is now coming from Australia and New Zealand, and it is around this supply that tho speculative movemont is taking pLvo. It is probably truo that thoro is a genuine world's shortago, but it is equally truo that tho supply at tho disposal of tho retailers is sufficient lo steady prices and prevent anything in Iho nature of a ring or 'corncr' with its attendant famine prices. Most of us havo our buttor afsured at fairly easy prices for tho noxt three months and after that it should bo plain sailing tor tho trade generally." A small dealer in South-oast London writes to tho paporrs to say that tho present high price is duo to a corner. " Whole consignments aro bought by big combines boforo leaving Australa or Now Zealand, and novor get a ohruioo of seeing tho market.. Tho saino applies to choose." AUTHORITATIVK CONTRADICTION. January 26. In view of a very general impression tliat tho wintor's high prtccss for butter aro caused bj- a "oorner" on tho part of largo holclors, tt may bo well to quota an authoritative contradiction sent mo by Mcssre W. Wcddel and Co., who say:—"Seldom, if over, havo mora al>surd stories lieen suppled to tlid itewppapore than tJiose now ap[waring, wltich allege that tho high prices of buttor during tho last Uvreo months aro jhio to a 'corner' or 'ring' of importers in Tooley street. Every intelligent man in tho buttor tra<lo knows that it. is duo solely to tho abnormally hot and dry woather of last summer. In tliis country wo havo had droughts from timo to time, and so havo most of tho butter-exporting countries nf Europe, but tlioro aro. no previous records of all thoie countries having a drought at tho somo timo. Tho excessively hot and dry weather of 1911 extended moro or less wivercly irom Omsk, in Western Siberia, right across Europo to Chicago, a distanco of 11,000 miles. Tho breadth of this calamity varied from 500 to 1000 miles. In Sil>eria thousands of cows were slaughtered owing to want of winter fodder, and the United States Department of Agriculture officially states that tho shortage of hay in that country from comparing 1911 to 1910 amounted lo 13,554,C00 tons, which is a decrease of 22 |>cr cent. Every country in Europo is sufTerng from tho high prices." Thoso facts ought, to convinco even tho most sceptical.