DAIRY INDUSTRY

Southland Times, Issue 21362, 7 April 1931, Page 7

DAIRY INDUSTRY

«RECORD YEAR PROBABLE. FIGURES FOR SEASON TO DATE. That the season's production both of butter and cheese to date is above that of last year, and if the present high level of production is continued during the next few months, there should be a new record established for the Dominion’s total output of butter-fat products, is revealed in the latest issue of the Abstract of Statistics. The Abstract states: “The production of butter during February, as indicated by the figures of quantities received into grading stores, fell away by 16.1 per cent, from the total quantity produced during the previous* month, this being in accordance with the usual seasonal experience. The production for the month of February was well in keeping with the average experienced during recent years, although 3.5 per cent, below the total for February, 1930. The latter year, however, was a record one for the Dominion throughout, as regards the production of both butter and cheese. For the seven months of the dairying season to date butter-production has reached a very high level, actually 1.6 per cent, in advance of the 1930 record season. “The latest advice from the Home market discloses an appreciable improvement in the prices realised for New Zealand butter. Early in the month the average price obtained was from 114/- to 116/- per cwt. but towards the end of the month this had advanced to 120/- to 123/- per cw’t. Prices realised at the end of February, 1930, were from 143/- to 146/-, so that the market has still room for considerable improvement. "Production of cheese continues on a remarkably high level, the quantity received into grading stores during the month being 2.7 per cent, above the total for a similar month of 1930. The season’s production of cheese to date is easily the highest recorded in the Dominion, and is 9.9 per cent, in advance of the quantity produced for the same period of the previous year. A continuance of this high level of production of cheese during the next few months should see the 1930-31 dairying season close with a new record established for the Dominion’s total output of butter-fat products. “Coincident with the position as regards butter, prices obtained for cheese on the Home market have become more stabilized. The prices for February have advanced from 51/- to 53/- during the first week to 57/- to 60/- at the close of the month. This compares with 86/- to 87/- for the last week of February, 1930.”