NEW ZEALAND BUTTER.

Putaruru Press, Volume XI, Issue 511, 2 March 1933, Page 8

NEW ZEALAND BUTTER.

MANAGER’S COMMENT. Reasons for Low Price. An emphatic declaration that New Zealand butter was “ poor stuff ” from a marketing point of view was made by a factory manager of worldwide experience who dis'cussed the matter with a representative of the Matamata Record while visiting Matamata last week. The manager in question stated that quality for quality, when first made New Zealand butter equalled anything in the world. It was no use, however, resting content with that, and the sooner the people in New Zealand, and farmers especially, woke up to the fact that New Zealand butter did not open up well the better it would be for the country. He stated that he had been present within'the past, few dajrs at an inspection'of New Zealand butter which had been in store for three to four months in Auckland. The idea had been to keep the butter for an equivalent time to that which a consignment took to reach the consumer .in England. “ A Very Poor Lot.” After inspecting same he had not the slightest hesitation in saying that the butter in the 70 to 80 boxes which were displayed was a very poor lot indeed. There was a yellow film all round the outside, and besides being most unsightly, this film, which was approximately onesixteenth of an inch in thickness, had a decidedly bad flavour. This flavour was called top-flavour and the film was generally accepted as being caused by oxydisation of certain vitamins in the butter.

A noticeable point was that this top-flavour was aggravated by imported timber, and was not so pronounced in the butter packed in New Zealand boxes, which were almost wholly made of kahikatea. The imported boxes, which were generally made of Swedish pine, added a distinct “ woody ” flavour to the butter. Reverting to the film around the butter, the speaker stated that in his opinion the disparity in price between New Zealand butter and Danish was easily accounted for. Sellers in New Zealand had to place selves in the position of the buyers in the Old Country to: obtain the proper perspective, and when it was realised that in sampling our butter a buyer would naturally take a sample from the outside, with its “ woody ” and top-flavours, it was obvious that he would not regard the butter so highly as that of Denmark. Considering the “ woody ” and top flavours, and the fact that it was proved that some of the butter graded finest did not quite come up to this standard when opened up, and also our butter’s poor “ spreadability,” the speaker stated that he felt New Zealand sellers were lucky if they got within 10s per hundredweight of the Danish price. Reason for Low Price. The present exceptionally low price was due to undercutting by sellers. Just as Australian butter sellers had been undercutting New Zealand sellers for years, so New Zealand sellers had to undercut Danish sellers in an overstocked market. Through New Zealand’s other markets in Canada and America being closed, and through German markets being closed to Danish butter, much larger supplies had been forwarded to England than formerly from both these countries. Whereas the Danish article had the advantage of nearness and previous markets in Britain, New Zealand was forced to seek new markets in the north against fierce Danish competition.

It was these factors which accounted for the record disparity in price between Danish and New Zealand butter. The point to be emphasised, however, was that despite the fact that New Zealand butter under chemical analysis was the best in the world, so far as food value was concerned, this great factor being because of the tremendous advantage New Zealand farmers had over these in colder countries in the matter of sunlight, the fact remained that New Zealand butter opened up very badly owing to oxydisation causing a film. If this film could be cut off at the other end all might be well, but as this was not possible economically the standard was lowered. Such butter looked bad when placed on the counter in bulk, and if worked up again the “ woody ” and top-flav-ours was incorporated in the balance which was free from this defect, thus contaminating the whole.

Hard to Spread. Talking about spreadability, the speaker held that an improvement in this direction could be made by more drastic control of the working of the butter in New Zealand factories. Butter could be made with no free moisture, yet incorporating the full 16 per cent, allowed by law, and if worked at a higher temperature was far more “ spreadable ” than that made in the old manner. Free moisture tended to assist the growth of mold, and' whereas in Danish butter free moisture did not matter owing to speedy sales, it was a defect in New Zealand butter. The elimination of this free moisture, without loosing the percentage of water content, and the working at a high temperature, left a butter which was far more easily spread with a knife. The present system of grading did not assist in securing this kind of butter for export either and a change appeared necessary to get the best results. Improved Quality of Cheese. Speaking on cheese the manager expressed his pleasure at the ‘ improvement being made in this article. The samples on view had cut well, were well matured, and were not unduly marked with holes. The flavour was mild and the appearance good. If this summer’s make was up to that standard there should be few complaints about cheese. In endeavouring to remedy defects an improvement had been secured by keeping the cheese at a higher temperature, and raising the temperature by 10 degrees had been ,a great success.

In conclusion, the speaker stressed the value of such inspections as he had attended, provided those attending kept their minds free from bias, and looked at matters from the point of view of the buyer. Practically all the managers from the Auckland province had attended,