EARLY RESUMPTION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26659, 3 January 1948, Page 5

EARLY RESUMPTION

ANGLO-DANISH FOOD TALKS HOPES FOR SATISFACTORY SETTLEMENT N.Z.P.A. Special Correspondent. Rec. 10 p.m. LONDON, Jan. 2. The Anglo-Danish food talks which broke down in September will be resumed in London on January 5. The resumed talks will include not only negotiations ' for the resumption of Danish butter and bacon supplies to Britain but also a wide field of trade relations and financial dealings between the. two countries. It is not known whether the Danes are prepared to reduce the price demands they made in September and there has been no indication if the British Government is prepared to make further concessions. The fact that there is now a new Government in Denmark and that Britain is in a better position to supply coal and machinery than she was in September may alter the situation.

One of the major arguments of the British Food Ministry will undoubtedly be that it cannot concede the wide margin which at present exists between the Danish demands and the prices being paid to the dominions. In September, when New Zealand was receiving £8 15s a cwt from Britain for her butter, the Danes demanded £l7 2s and refused even to discuss an offer of £l2 12s. Since then the New Zealand price has been increased to £ 10 5s and the Australian price to £lO 3s 6d. Nevertheless, it is not disguised that Britain badly needs the Danish butter or bacon which has been available in this country. Since the last London talks broke down the Danes have made agreements to sell butter to Czechoslovakia and other European countries, and the Danish press reported this week that further offers, in advance of the price demanded from Britain, have been received from the United States. The Danes realise, however, that these agreements are largely temporary and that on any long term view the British market, to which their whole agricultural economy is adjusted, should still be Denmark’s mainstay. It is considered in London that if the British Government can see its way to supply Denmark with more coal and machinery and to make some concessions to relieve Denmark's general financial situation, the Danes may be prepared to adjust their food demands accordingly.