The Daily News TUESDAY, JANUARY 16, 1934. THE DAIRY INDUSTRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 16 January 1934, Page 6

The Daily News

TUESDAY, JANUARY 16, 1934. THE DAIRY INDUSTRY.

OFFICES: NEW PLYMOUTH, Currie Street. STRATFORD, Broadway. HAWERA, High Street.

While the chairman of the Dairy Control Board continues to urge limitation of marketing agencies in Great Britain as a further experiment in the handling of New Zealand produce, the prices for butter and cheese continue to show a downward tendency. It is a matter which is of serious concern to the wljole community, and in no part of the Dominion is the problem more serious than in Taranaki. For there seems very little in the new marketing proposals that gives promise of any improvement in prices. On the contrary, the outstanding factor in the London market today is that Danish butter, which is sold on terms that “meet the market,” whatever the price may be, continues to obtain a high premium over the New Zealand product. Despite limitations of imports of Danish butter the demand for it continues, and the question is forced upon the New Zealand industry whether in its experimenting with new marketing arrangements it is not beginning at the wrong end. One large dairy organisation in the Auckland district is sending its chairman of directors to Britain to investigate matters on the spot. It is an action that might well be considered by the Taranaki portion of the industry, and the particular point of the inquiry should be why Danish butter continues to sell freely in Great Britain, and why even at a considerably lower price the Dominion product seems unable to displace the Danish in some of the most important districts in industrial England. The plain fact appears to be that in quality and flavour New Zealand butter does not fulfil the requirements of a large section of the consumers in the United Kingdom. Of this the industry has had ample warning and advice, and in many ways has endeavoured to profit therefrom. It is also true that Home politics may have had some share in depressing the market for Dominion produce. The determination to protect the home market for the home grower is no passing phase in English politics. It is a condition that must be reckoned with in the future; it is one that New Zealand’s greatest foreign rival appears to be accepting almost with equanimity. The Danish exporter sees his product in demand in Great Britain. He reasons—and with much justification—that so long as that demand exists his output will find a market. If the quantity sent to England is limited the price for the supplies admitted will be so much the higher, and what is excluded can be disposed of in cheaper markets with no loss to the industry as a whole. It is increased demand, and not amended marketing arrangements that is New Zealand’s chief need. To improve marketing is an important function, but it will be a waste of time and effort unless the quality and flavour of the Dominion’s butter is such as to create a demand that will be insistent enough to ensure supplies being admitted to Great Britain. The existing low prices are not justified by the present position of stocks in Great Britain, although in this respect the possibility of a political understanding with the Irish Free State releasing large quantities of stored Irish butter may be a disturbing element, and there is the increased output of Australia to add to the uncertainty of the London trader. But whatever the reasons for the slump in prices it is their recovery that must be sought if the dairy industry is to prosper. There is only one way to bring better prices. It is only by increasing demand that the New Zealand exporter can overcome the political and economic difficulties that surround him. Are there weaknesses on the farm, in the factory and in the marketing system that can be eliminated? Are there better methods of packing and introducing Dominion butter to the consumers of Britain? Experts have warned the industry that an accumulation of small weaknesses may have a very serious effect upon the finished product, and the question has still to be answered whether the industry is devoting sufficient attention to this end of the business. Is it, to take a debatable matter, satisfied that the system of home separation is good for the industry? Is it satisfied, again, that the universal pasteurisation of cream is desirable or necessary ? Is research being prosecuted with the necessary vigour and equipment into problems of manufacture, storage and transport? In short, can the industry get nearer a continuous supply of an article desired by consumers, superior in quality to that of its competitors, as attrac-

tively displayed, and with adequate storage facilities to suit the small as well as the large retailer? If it can the demand can be stimulated by judicious publicity, and an improvement in values would assuredly follow.