DAIRY PRODUCE MARKET.

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 31384, 13 February 1923, Page 5

DAIRY PRODUCE MARKET.

BUTTER AND CHEESE. DOES LONDON KNOW? t ■' __ A very deal of criticism is sometimes fired at directors of cooperative dairy companies (especially afc annual meetings) it' they sell forward and make a mistake in judgment thereby or if, on the other hand, they do not. isell and the result of the open consignment policy is that a selling policy would have Jx v en better. It has always been a question which lias loomed largely at tiie beginning of the dairying season, and, unless some miracle happens, it looks as if this perplexing question will continue to arise until the Crack of Doom. When dealing with the matter of selling versus open consigning at the .annual meeting of the Cvoxdale Co-operative Dairy Company, in August, the chairman of directors, Mr I>.1 > . Dawson, gave an excellent. review of the year which had just terminated, and had been -a disastrous one for factories which had stuck to the policy of open cousagnment. ‘‘Amongst the lessons we have learned,” said Mr Lawson, “is that London knows very little more about the prospects fcr butter and cheese than we know ourselves, and that isn’t, much.” It really seemed that whatever a factory did with its output it was on to a gamble, and there was no help for it. 'l'll© statement made by Air Lawsotn “that, London did not know” w® received

in some quarters wit-li considerable, doubt, but we have before us a striking testimony a.s to the correctness of bis statement. Writing front London under date December 12th Messrs Dalgety and Co.. Ltd., state: — ‘‘The market for Australian and New Zealand butter, since our last report has experienced' what can onlv bo described as a somewhat sensational collapse and an equally sensational recovery. .For five or six days after our last issue it ruled quietly steady at 21<)s to 214 s for finest New Zealand, .and 204 s to 208 s , for finest Australian. At this period j there was not much buying, neither j was there much pressure to sell, o\v- j ing to the very small stocks, and it j wa> thought that, the first few arid- I \a I s of new season's Australian | would easily be cleared as they be- j came available. Hut, owing to very : I'o-jigy weather during the week end- | ing 18th November, the berthing and j nu'oading of steamers were delayed, j and tile following week saw no less J j hmi seven boats dischai ging simul- j r.aueously. The total quantity on | these vessels (07.000 boxes) would j not of course, m normal times, have j <-;msed much anxiety' on the part of j fin porters. But fo r snniy months pas + j market prices had rilled high—over ; 20( >s —owing to ooin-pa it.- ti ve scare• i ty. | ;md these conditions had given a j somewhat fictitious value- to l atter, i ■while these rates h -d forced tiie re- j tail figure to 2s to 2s 2d per lb., on j v, hich basis the public demand is on j n restricted scale. The 1 ratio, there- j fore, was not in a favourable state | i, r absorb readily the quantity which j suddenly became available. It must j be born in mind that M holesalers j were obsessed with tin* knowledge ot j the largo quantities of .New Zealand J di;.* at tiie end of November, and the j oil! larger shipments u> follow, and j would only adopt. a hand-to-mouth j policy of buying; and this policy was ! 1 • iituated bv the verv ]>oor retail j demand. Even then the break in the . market oanve with such dramatic I ijd den ness (an 2otfl November a leader in the London * Grocer ’ stat-

Thc demand for Butter is tin* quiet side, which is not- surprising in •. ir u of the large quantities of Coaioi- ; i Broduce now oil the way. Quotar. us tend slight ly downwards, but i!i» material drop in prices is expoctrh- t n:ost people? were caught- h >ld.i ■ _ dearly-bought .stocks. About t-he \»|s L ult. ther ( . was a disposition on r part of agents to ease t.heir • . s 2s to 4s per cut. Buyers did .n resp< ml readily; a panic* set-in ..•id from the above- elate until • tit I>. ■ -mber, when IGBs was accepted ! finest New Zealand and lG4s lor Australian, valueis had 1- Men n > less ; hail 44s j>or cwt. from ‘the top. The drooping values at length encourag- «■»! Retailers to reduce their pr o's iti ?inn. and about the 4th inst. the Midi ip I© shops w a-re down to Is 8d lb., with one Smith London firm - ■, u selling at Is Gd. To insure, a i .ribinuitv of these retail prices it as necessary to secure sufficient (■' ks, and lieavv buying took place Thursday aftemocn, 7th instant. |he effect was startling, for whilst i ii one day New Zealand was b *ing • ffertnl freely at. K>Bs, by noon the flowing day h riders were firm at 171 s. and bv four o’clock buyers were ~ ving 178s* for th-fi same article. In •! ,rt time buying was pra tt y g<*?i- :. 1 1 througliout the l nitod Kingdom •■ml the ( T . S. A.. -and Canada also A. u dit considerable quantities <>t !) nish' and New Z aland. It had . a rumoured on the Produce Exchange for some time past that Arno-' i. ii buyers were uniting for lower i 1 ii .s to make extensive purchases. J hfir ideas were tin light to Ik* in the neighbourhood of IGOs. Ihe depros-;.-,n ruling two ■weeks ago was so at that we hear that part of the i ; jgoox of Mr.re ton B:iv” a.ml "Siicvic,’ now i-Hiding, <hanged hands in the neighbourhood of IGGs During the first . days pf k/ r * win k, w hile the W lf/'t ivUs b *t-.o?' T>{ Australian, 178 s 80s was talked of, hut now that he shipments r *x th© three, ve.sixe'lx* a'utioned are landiri c. the asking . ,p price for finest is 1 < Gs. I he f rad * n-sty nded f irlv well to tin* highprice asked for New Zealand, a.l- ---■ 1111 r h it is an o|X»n question as to .... king these enhanced ideas ca.n n* maintrimd. The present uneer•ll > r -,s tn t l »# • f!»I ii re renders it alnnj.it impossible to do any forward

business and hardly any c.i.f. sales arc report"-!. Buyers fool flint to purchase butlei* for lore’ M'< l shipment at th.- present time is not only a. terrific eamble. but that to protect, themselves tiie-,- could only bid prices so low that. Liu' factories woilkl not entertain them. Danish, which is in a category by itself, has not rtnetuat-<-il to the same extent as Colonial, hut has ruled quiet- to dull for some time past. ‘•Since our lost report the cheese market has been featureles, except that the a ski up: price of 128 s to 130 s were not maint,n ined. Trade has ruled quiet. while arrivals have beta small, and prices have remained firm for some time past at 120 sto 121 s for Canadian and New Zealand, with occasion a lh- 2: more lar fancy parcels of the former. The prospects are all in favour of steady prices for -omo weeks yet, as on the Ist instant C.’ann.fla. had only 29,227 boxes for cxpeir'. whilst arrivals of Now Zealand t. i dale total onlv 14,000 crates. The ri’Tiuir'., s regarding; forward bu-im ss for Imi hr apply to -omo extent to eliwsc. It is considered that at I lie present high spat level and the firm market, shippers are not lik-tv to iw-eopt c.i.f. prices which buyers would think a fair risk to take.” The statement that ‘‘London dee's rmt know” ' -in- to be pretty aceursite this s< nnyhow, for not onlv did the buyers of dairv produce _ g" pretty slow, but i.lie Gondon “Grocer,”'which is absolutely tlm authority of the trade when cheese and butter i the topic did not know on ihe 251 h. of November what was going to happen next, tlav, in fact it predicted “No material drop, and lh n butter dropped about 50s! It i ; no wonder directors of dairy eomoanies do not know whether to sell n* consign Truly, whatever they <1 1 they arc “on to a gamble.”