MARKET FOR BUTTER

Taranaki Daily News, 19 February 1931, Page 9

MARKET FOR BUTTER

DEMAND iN ENGLAND INCREASING POPULARITY. SUPPLIES FROM DOMINION. The need for a thorough study of the retail demand for Empire products has been given practical recognition by the Empire z Alarketing Board. • The latest repeat of that body, issued by its econoinic section, deals with the demand in Britain for butter from Empire and foreign sources and is designed to give the overseas producer an idea of the working of the agencies through which . hig. produce.passes and a knowledge of the preferences of consumers in the matter of,quality, grading and presentation. • It is rightly considered that, armed with such intelligence as this, the Empire farmer should be in a position to make stronger market drives and a better adaptation of production to market requirements. The report is based on surveys of nearly 3000 retail shops in 18 large -centres in England, Scotland and Wales with an aggregate population of 12,000,000 people. The main object was an examination of the position of Empire butters in these shops, and to estimate the extent and nature of competition from butters of foreign origin. To overcome seasonal variations in supply the inquiry was conducted in two parts—the first in late spr’ng, and;, the second during the summer months—so that a composite picture of the mariac- was obtained. First, a study of the conditions was made when there were' relatively plentiful supplies of New Zealand and Australian butter on hand, and this was fol- > lowed by a second survey when the .butter - export season of the Irish Free .State was at 'its height. SECOND IN THE LIST. ' It is emphasised in the report that \a striking feature of the Home trade in butter in recent years has been the in- ' creasing popularity of New Zealand as a source of supply. The Dominion ranks .second in the list of countries sending butter to Britain, the first, of course, being Denmark, which supplies 34 per cent, of the total imports. New Zealand, .’however, is credited with sending 20 .per cent, of the total. In 1929 the United Kingdom imported no less a quantity of butter than 2,250,000 cwt., more than the pre-war average. Nearly half ’> this increase was made up of supplies from New Zealand. The consumers’ preference is a point which must be intimately studied by the producer who would quit his goods at the most profitable level. The emphasis laid on this matter by the Empire Marketing Board brings to memory the advice given to farmers at the last Carterton Show by Lord Bledisloe. “When' I was studying at a leading agricultural college in England,” said his Excellency, “the first thing I was told was: ‘When making butter, consider what your customers want, and give it to them.’ In Yorkshire, for instance, the people like butter with a pronounced colour, and if the butter is not dark enough it had better be coloured. In Leeds, the people like a lighter butter —something like tallow in apeparance — while in London, they like something in between |he two.” Proceeding, his Excellency said that in the North of England there was nothing like the demand for New Zealand butter that there was in London and the south. It would be worth while, therefore, to determine •what the requirements'of each area were in colour, taste and texture, and then make every effort to fill them.

CONFIRMATION- OF STATEMENTS. Confirmation of Lord Bledisloe’s statements is contained in th© Marketing Board’s report. From tables given, it is apparent that New Zealand butter is more popular in the south of England than it is in the north. In Bristol, for /instance, it was found in 86 per. cent, of the shops included in the survey, and in many of these cases it was the only butter stocked. In Birmingham, the percentage was also high (64 per cent.), ■but it was generally sold there as a subsidiary line to Danish. Liverpool, in the first survey, showed a higher percentage of shops stocking New Zealand butter than did other northern areas, but here again in more than half the instances it was sold as a second line, and during the summer months it was almost entirely replaced by Irish. In all the areas except Bristol and South Wales New Zealand sales were usually less than those of other types stocked with it. In the northern areas, the chief line was commonly a European butter. In Bristol, nearly 25 per cent, of the shops visited were stocking only New Zealand butter, but in addition over 50 per cent, were selling it as the chief line. In Birmingham New Zealand butter was stocked by a larger percentage of shops than in any other area,, but in the case of 83 per cent, of the shops stocking it, it was sold as a second line to Danish. “Of the principal bulk butters,” says the- report, “the order of retail price throughout the country was, with few exceptions, Danish, New Zealand, Irish and Australian. It is interesting to note that with the exception of Irish butter, the same order applied to the number of shops stocking each type and to the volume of imports during the period of the inquiry. Danish, besides being the dearest, was the most frequently stocked and its imports were the largest. New Zealand butter w’as second and Australian third in the order of price, frequency and volume of imports. ; INTERESTING COMPARISONS. “An interesting relationship can be observed between price differences and the percentage of shops stocking the various butters throughout the areas. In the north Danish was considerably dearer than New Zealand, and was stocked in many more shops. In Birmingham and Liverpool it was slightly dearer and was stocked in a few more shops. In London, Bristol and South Wales it was slightly cheaper, and was stocked iu fewer shops than New Zealand. The dearest types of bulk butter in London were those wi*h the highest sales, namely, New Zealand and bulkblended. Danish butter was among the higher-p iced lines, ev< . though its sales were comparatively small, but its price relative to other types was lower in London than in any of the other areas.” An imp/ - ‘■ant point upon which light is t'-rown by the survey is that most of the >T "— -’aland butter on sale in the northern areas is found in branch shops of r "’.tion chain ore syndicates, which buy in bulk in London. The principal explanation of the “geography of taste” which so - viously xists in England is that New Zealand (and Australian) butter arrives almost entirely at the port of London, European butter on the north-east coast and Irish butter at western ports. Thus round each port, or group of ports, the type of butter unloaded there predominates. New Zealand produce is sold mainly in London and the south, while the north is still mainly the foreigners’ territory.