HAIRY COMPETITION.

Taranaki Daily News, 3 September 1926, Page 7

HAIRY COMPETITION.

WARNING TO DOMINIONS. STRICT ECONOMY NEEDED. PROSPECTS IN ENGLAND. By Telegraph - Press Assn.—Copyright. London, Sept. 1. Outstanding, among the conclusions in the report of the Imperial Economic Committee on the preparation and marketing of Empire dairy produce is a warning that Empire producers must effect economies, in order to meet the inevitable severe competition in Britain’s trade. The United Kingdom in 1924 spent £63 millions on the purchase of butter and cheese, of which £3O millions, or 52 per cent., came from tho Empire. The annual consumption of butter pelcapita in Britain lias increased in the last 20 years from 151 b to 161 b in weight, compared with 2-81 b in Canada and- 271 b in Australia-. The British demand for butter and cheese is expanding, but there are indications that foreign countries are making considerable efforts to recover and improve their pre-war trade positions. Most likely in the next few years competition will be more severe, notably from Argentina, Siberia, Russia and the Baltic States. In the northern countries the wages and standards of living are relatively low. The marketing and preparing of Empire dairy produce has greatly improved in recent years. “While there is room for further improvement,” the report says, “we are of opinion that it is necessary to look in other directions for the economics necessary to meet the competition which we- foresee. Our main conclusion is that both at home and overseas it will not be practicable to maintain the present standards of living among those dependent on the dairy industry, unless the farming interests, in order- to meet such cutting of ■ prices as may eome from increased competition, prepare without delay fertile adoption of more efficient and cheaper methods of production. ; “Fortunately there is room for such improvement by. means of' increased output;- without any . great increase in cost.. The quantity,-of milk and butterfat from., the individual cow, and the irumber-.? of,, cows to the acre, can be greatly increased. . Cow-testing should be generally adopted. By attention to breeding and the improvement of pastures and fodder crops, a greatly increased output will he obtainable without equivalent additional cost., . DISTANCE FROM MARKETS. “Owing to the distance of the-eoutlp-ern Dominions, the bulk of - their sup l plies do not arrive until the beginning of the year, whereas the supplies of the northern countries are relatively close at hand and marketed in the greatest quantity during the spring, or within three, or foiir months afterwards. .Southern prices sympathetically follow supplies. .There are two low periods, January-February and AprßMay, but there is usually a steady rise in the latter half of the year. - “Denmark, by means of winter dairying, has succeeded in regularising her exports to Britain, so that the monthly quantities vary little with the season.” The report "strongly urges all parts of the Empire carefully to consider the practicability of more winter dairying. ■■Where this is impracticable and storage must be resorted to in order to regularise supplies, we recommend that the storage, as far as possible, should be in the country of production, and only so much be stored in the United Kingdom as is necessary to counterbalance the irregular arrival of ships.

“■We. reinforce the recommendations of the Linlithgow committee and the Royal Com mission on Food Prices that the statistics of produce held in storage should be published, as is done in New Zealand.”

Dealing with the effect of retail prices on consumption, the committee emphasises that a fall instantly increases consumption. The retailer naturally objects to too frequent changes, and claims that a few changes only can, on the average, convey to the consumer the net effect of many up« and downs in the wholesale price. ' The committee comments: “This may be so, although many are of opinion there is often an undue lag in retail prices when wholesale arc falling, especially at the end of the year, owing to the arrival of oversea stocks, which should result, in a definite -increase of cons’jmptioii and the prevention of ae-. cumulation, with a steadying of wholesale prices.” RECEPTION OF CONTROL. Dealing with control the board's report says: “We recognise conditions of the market, irregular arrivals and fluctuations of prices have justified producers in taking special steps to safe'guard their interests. The remedy for speculation arising from price fluctuations is the regularisation of supplies and ihe stimulation of demand. There is a natural fear among traders that such control bodies might be tempted to abuse their powers. We strongly urge upon these bodies a policy of moderation in the use of their powers. Should they follow, the policy of holding up supplies for reserved prices, which is adopted by some New Zealand factories, they will be venturing on the dangerous experiment of mass specula-, tion, but if they limit their activities to the regulation of shipments and the development of marketing- they, will benefit both producers ami consumers.

“There is little to be said jfcncerning cheese. No less than 90 pet cent. . Ytf the United Kingdom demand is already met from within the Empire.” ■ The committee repeat their advocacy of the identification of origin, publicity, and research in relation to dairy produce. The committee are emphatic in the opinion that there is no reason why the freights for Australia should be higher than from New Zealand. They also examine the methods of selling Australian and. New Zealand butter in London and express the hope that they will see a system evolved rendering overseas producers as little dependent upon importers for financing the product as the Danes are. In conclusion the committee express the opinion that good may result from control bodies giving a weekly lead as a guide to market prices, but the committee is definitely opposed to any attempt to secure a system of fixed prices.