EXPORTED CHEESE

Southland Times, Issue 21195, 23 September 1930, Page 8

EXPORTED CHEESE

■ SHIPPED TOO NEW •THE ADVANTAGES OF MATURING PREMIUM OBTAINABLE That there were distinct possibilites in the maturing of New Zealand cheese before offering it on the London market was the contention of Mr E. A. Little, a director of Messrs-Joseph Nathan and Company, Limited, and the associated house of Trengrouse and Nathan Limited, of Tooley street, London, in the course of an interview with a. Southland Times reporter yesterday. . Mr Little, who is in- control of the dairy produce department of his firm, has recently returned from an extensive tour of the United Kingdom.

In outlining steps which his firm had taken to test the Home market for matured cheese, Mr Little stated that portions of shipments of cheese consigned to the market through his firm last season had been sold immediately on arrival, while the balance had been held in store and matured thoroughly before being offered to the trade. The results had been most gratifying and indicated that a substantial market could be developed for properly matured New Zealand cheese of good quality. The experience had been that matured New Zealand cheese,- discriminately marketed, realized approximately the same- price as Canadian cheese which was regularly put on'the market in a matured condition. For six weeks when the New Zealand matured cheese was being marketed it kept, step by step, with the price of the Canadian product and paid a premium of from 10/- to 20/- per hundredweight on the current market price of fresh cheese from the Dominion.

Mr Little stated that his firm was anxious to continue maturing New Zealand cheese and develop the demand and trade. On last season’s results, the cost involved paid handsomely despite expensive storage charges in London, and the premium available to the producer should be a convincing argument in favour of maturing. It would be more profitable to the industry if the cheese were matured within the Dominion, but the difficulty af the present time was that space in the curing rooms, of the factories was vefy limited, and a similar situation existed in regard to the cool stores, which were now cramped owing to the great increase in production of late years. If the cheese were thoroughly matured in New Zealand, said Mr Little, it should be held in the factories for about two months and regularly turned as required. Maturing would then be so far developed that it would proceed naturally when in the cool stores awaiting shipment and during the journey to London, and the cheese would arrive in a suitable condition to be placed on the market immediately. It was significant, remarked Mr Little, that the bulk of Canadian cheese, although manufactured much closer to the market than was the New Zealand article, was an older cheese than New Zealand when offered for sale to the trade. He explained that most of the cheese produced in Canada for export was purchased by the merchants direct from the factories and matured in the Dominion, the profit accruing being retained by the merchants. The marketing of matured cheese in a discriminate manner was important, he continued, as the matured article, if offered in the ordinary way, would probably realize very little more than the newly arrived produce. It was necessary, therefore, that the marketing should be carefully handled and connections for matured cheese built up as the supply increased gradually.' Asked whether waxing would have any effect on the maturing process, Mr Little said the fact that the cheese had been waxed could have no detrimental effect, and it was contended by some of the experts that waxed cheese matured better than unwaxed. He was satisfied that Southland cheese was eminently suitable for maturing, and tests undertaken last season with cheese from the province had been most successful. While in London, he had seen a number of shipments of Southland cheese in his firm’s stores, and he had been greatly impressed with the quality which was the best he had inspected. Mr Little was asked whether the adoption of the "Southland” brand was likely to prove of benefit to the industry in the province and in reply stated that the chief difficulty would be the haphazard system of marketing that was operating at present. If there was continuity of supply of better quality cheese, undoubtedly it would be keenly sought after by the trade, but so long as the dairv factories followed a system of consigning through different agents each season, the customers of the merchants would not be able to expect regular supplies of the “Southland” article and, therefore, would not be prepared to pay a higher price for the product they could not be certain would be available for any length of time.