BUTTER AND CHEESE,

Taranaki Daily News, 27 July 1922, Page 7

BUTTER AND CHEESE,

HOME AND EUROPEAN MARKETS. OPINION OF NiEW ZEALAND ARTICLE. AN INTERESTING ADDRESS. (From Our Own Correspondent.) At a meeting of suppliers of the Wai-toi-txyi Dairy Company last week some interesting information was given as to the position of the Home market as regards dairy produce, by Mr. Robinson, manager of the Intercolonial and Continental branch of Messrs. Nathan and Co. Messrs. Nathan and Thompson, representing the firm, were also present. This is the first visit Mr. Robinson has paid to New Zealand, and his first address to dairy companies in Taranaki, so a few of his remarks may prove of interest to dairymen. In the course of his address, Mr. Robinson stated that he would first deal with the position on the Continent. The position, as it appeared to him, was that Denmark was not exporting into England as much as formerly, as she was sending a large quantity of butter to France, Belgium. Sweden and Germany. France and Sweden had not as yet recovered from the depletion of herds caused by the war, and probably would not do so for some time. English exporters were establishing what promised to be a regular trade with these countries in cheese and butter, and New Zealand produce was well thought of. Siberia w T ould not be a serious competitor, as he thought she would absorb nearly all that was manufactured for a considerable period, whilst the difficulties of transit proved a big obstacle. Miles of trunk line with no branches made it needful for produce to be transported by waggons for as far as 180 miles, and dairy produce did not stand much of that. The procedure was to travel all night, and shelter under the trees by day, and although much of the butter was as good. better than New Zealand, it suffered too much on the journey, and. wax generally classed second rate on its arrival in England. An interesting account of the method of marketing was given. It was nothing to see hundreds of carts lined ud in some, centres awaiting buyers, who went around inspecting and purchasing at so many roubles per pound for cash, the merchants taking the responsibilities of future transit. Fluctuations in price were inevitable, and he himself had lost as much as £5OOO in one week, but they had to take the bad with the good. Dealing with the butter position of last year, he that when the merchants had bought the Government butter they arranged with retailers that the pric? to the public was to be on low percentage above cost. The innsequence was that consumption was increased to a large extent. This, of course, left the market right for the new season’s butter. Mr. Sutton said he had wondered why the old stuff had been absorbed so quickly; no donbt the drop in price had increased the demand. Mr. Robinson said that was so. A lowering of prices inevitably increased consumption. Mr. Baker asked, if their firm had fallen into line with the rest of the merchants in exploiting trade with the Continent?

Mr. Robinson replied that they had already regular customers in Paris, and other parts of France, both in cheese and butter. The French were big cheese-eat-ers. Ako, ih England the consumption of cheese was a great deal more than before the war. No doubt the soldiers had acquired a liking for cheese, whilst the medical authorities had encouraged the people to eat all the butter and cheese they could, the vitamines contained in these foods being an aid in the prevention of rickets. Tn regard to advertising. the merchants had some time ago approached the High Commissioner, and had offered to put up a sum of money conditionally ifpon the latter guaranteeing a similar amount for the purpose of advertising New Zealand produce. This had b«*en done, and they themselves were still going on with the game, and intended to continue. A question was asked as to whether, in the case of a slump, they ever held over the goods. Mr. Robinson said very rarely, as with articles for consumption it invariably led to dislocation of trade. A regular customer, if refused. generally went elsewhere, and ended in becoming a client no longer. Besides, to hold up a consignment meant that another one would be on top of them before long, and of course tended to still further lower the price. Bare markets were always best for higher returns. The late attempt at a pool was touched on. Mr. Phillips wishing tn know, in the event of the pool being formed, would anv particular factory have been entitled to anything above the price fixed bv the board, supposing the agents for that factory had been able to secure such. Mr. Robinson explained that once the price had been fixed there would be absolutely no chance of getting more. Buyers were not going to give anv particular agent a shilling more than they could get the article elsewhere, and the result would be to wipe out all competition. . Mr. Sutton: ‘-'Absolute stagnation. Mr. Robinson: Just so. He went on tn relate that a portion of Australia has a sort of pool, and he. as agent for one of them, had been able to secure 4s per cwt. from a customer above the pnol price but. upon discovering that it was pool butter, the buyer had repudiated the transaction and the deal was off At that time butter out of the pool was bringing more than poo] butter. He complimented those present upon having such a fine building, with such lovely surroundings. Tie thought it a wonderful country, and expressed surprise that, with such a mild climate, they did noi milk all the year round. He hoped lo come back next year. On being questioned as to next season’s prospects, he said it would be a bold man who would dare to mak p certain statement, but they need not look for any fancy prices. Cheese at lOd and butter at 1/6 would nrobably he somewhere near the mark. The late high price for butter was occasional by the impossibility of securing supplies from Troland owing to the disturbances, in fact, they had to cable to Canada for some of the dual plant factories to turn to butter to keep things going. The trouble was that no one could predict the amount that would be produced. Australia was subject to droughts, and that made it difficult to estinfmte their quantity, and one never knew the amount coming from the Argentine and Canada. However. England was aide to

absorb it all. Von could always find a dale for evex-ything in England —at a

price. Returns of butter and cheese were generally on a parity. If butter went up, so did cheese, and vice versa. Upon being asked as to how the butter and cheese opened up in England, Mr. Robinson stated that during the war period the condition of the cheese left a lot to be desired, but matters had improved now. He also menitoned that if a case of New Zealand butter was opened up at the beginning of the’ week, the balance left would be. equally as fresh at the end of that period, whilst the Danish article went off considerably. Mt. Nathan, upon being requested to express an opinion as to the advisability of installing a butter plant to deal with the whole of the supply, said that, seeing the company had such an excellent cheese plant, and were able to produce a first-class article, if they took Iris advice they would keep to cheese. Tn running a factory it was advisable to have a defined policy. If consignors, always consign, not to sell at one time and consign the next. And the same with manufacture: adhere to either butter or cheese. The man who was always looking for tops generally found bottoms. Tn?reaseJ production would fill the farmers’ pockets more quickly than trying to catch the top of the market. When asked how it was that the high fat content cheese made in the autumn did nor. bring a better price than that, made in "the snring, Mr. Nathan considered the quantity was so small that it could not be placed to sufficient advantage to realise any benefit.