STATE MARKETING

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19820, 23 December 1938, Page 14

STATE MARKETING

DOMINION’S PRODUCE

SURPLUS ESTIMATED

OVER £500,000 l.\ EXPOHTS

INTERNAL £OBO4 PROMT

(Per Press Association.) WELLINGTON, this day. The Minister of Marketing, the Hon. W. Nash, has issued the annual report ana statements of accounts of the Primary Marketing Department for the year ended July 31, 1938. “In the terms of the Primary Products Marketing Act, the report ancl accounts are to be laid before Parliament within 14 days after they have been received by the Minister if Parliament is then sitting,” said Mr. Nash. "The Parliamentary session ended on September 16, 1938, before the report and accounts could be completed, f am now issuing these statements, ana tney will oe laid before Parliament when it next meets.”

The report of the Dairy Produce Export Division reviews the completed financial operations for the year ended July 1937. The deficit for the 1936-37 season is shown to be £272,482. In terms of the undertaking given to the dairy industry, this deficit is the responsibility of the Government.

The report reviews the operations for 1937-38 season and discloses the estimated surplus as £555,185. This estimate was based on the valuations of unsold butter at 110/- per cwt. and unsold cheese at 70/- per cwt. The sales made to date support the estimated surplus which has been quoted. Publicity at Home FuU details are given of the marketing operations of the department and references are made to improvements in the distribution of butter and cheese and in the price returns which have resulted from the new marketing procedure.

Advertising and publicity activities in the United Kingdom are fully reviewed and details are given of extensions in the programme which have been made possible by the increased financial allocation for this purpose. There is a complete range of all statistical data relating to gradings of butter and cheese, shipments and deliveries to London and other ports in the United Kingdom.

The guaranteed prices for dairy produce are tabulated with corresponding average payments for butterfat made by the dairy companies to their suppliers. Dairy company manufacturing costs are shown and comparisons are made with the previous season’s costs. Previous Deficit Special references are made to cheese manufacture and to the efforts of the Government to maintain cheese production. Tiie accounts for the 1936-37 period show that in the case of creamery butter and cheese the actual realisations for produce which was unsold at Dhe balance date exceeded the estimates. In the case of whey butter the actual realisations were less than the estimates. The net result is that at the date of the closing of the accounts (June 21, 1938), the actual deficit for the 1936-37 season was £272,109

In the accounts published with last year’s report the deficit for the season was estimated at £548,750. Interest at 1' per cent is allowed on the deficit of £272,109 from June 21, i 938, to the end of Julv, bringing the deficit for the 1936-37 season at July 31, ltffiS, to £272,482. The report and accounts of the Internal Marketing Division cover a period of 14 months. The activities of this division are reviewed and. in particular, much information is given regarding the local marketing of butter, eggs, noney and fruit. Particulars are given of.the assistance rendered m the constitution in terms of the regulations of the bobby calf pools for the collection, handling and disposal of bobby calves. The accounts show that the trading operations of the Internal Marketing Division have resulted in a net profit of £6804.

CHEESE PRODUCTION DECLINE ARRESTED .MAIM INAL PAYMENT (l*«r I’ri'io* Axmm-ou.oii. I WELLINGTON, this day. The relationship betwecr butter manufacture and cheese manufacture is referred to in the annual report of the Primary Products Marketing Department. After pointing out that the differential marginal payment in favour of butterfat supplied for cheese-making is intended to compensate suppliers to the cheese-factory companies for the comparatively lower returns from byproducts and lor the cost oi delivery of milk, the report states there is evidence to support the contention that the price margin has been effective in arresting the steady decline in cheese production during the past five years.

Figures are given showing that in the two "seasons immediately preceding the introduction of the guaranteed price procedure, decreases in cheese production were respectively 10.62 per cent and 7.68 per cent. For the 193637 season the decrease in cheese production is 3.12 per cent and for the 1937-38 season the decrease is o.lz per cent.

When it is considered that in respect of butter the decrease for the 1937-38 season is 7.59 per cent, it can fairlv be claimed that the present price margin of 2d a pound butterfat in favour of cheese has assisted to maintain cheese production, says the report.