NO DRIVING FORCE

Taranaki Daily News, 27 November 1934, Page 9

NO DRIVING FORCE

OVER-SUPPLY LESSENS DEMAND.

POSITION OF BUTTER MARKET.

The belief commonly held that butter values always rise in September, has not proved correct this year, simply because there was not the driving force of demand, states a report from Samuel Page and Son, Ltd., London. With weeks of only hand-to-mouth buying, and sellers endeavouring to dispose not only of current arrivals but substantial parcels that had hitherto been kept off the market for anything from one to ten months, a cloud of depression gradually descended on the trade. It was partially lifted when orders were received that were the largest for many weeks, at 655-66 s for finest grade stored, but th® improvement was very short-lived and since then even , lodrer prices have been taken. With stored goods, fresh landed oldseason’s and fresh landed new-season’s (with a large preponderance of first grade) Australian and New Zealand all on offer both buyers and sellers are excusably bewildered and it is not surprising to find values irregular, nor that New Zealand owing to its relative larger supply has lost the premium over Australian that it held for most of the year. It is indeed an unfortunate start to the scheme designed to better the marketing of New Zealand produce, but it may be as well to remember that the condition was in being before the commencement of the new season, the principal contributors being those who after keeping their butter off the market unloaded it when it simply was pot wanted. How different the position might have otherwise have been can only be assumed, but the import figures show a big falling off compared with September, 1933, and it is reasonable to suppose that this drop in supplies would have prevented the recent disastrous fall in prices had the trade had. only that quantity to deal with. Whilst Commonwealth and Dominion ' and, in fact, most other descriptions have been immersed in this slough of despond, Danish has sailed serenely along, and although it is just a little cheaper than it was a month ago, it has made as much as 106 s to 107 s for the average weekly arrival during the past six weeks of 50,000 cwt. Having succeeded in raising prices by restricting supplies, and having found out what quantity Britain will absorb at the higher level, the Danes are hardly likely to depart from their new policy of storing the surplus, but whether they . will be as successful in finding the “most favourable moment” for disposing of it on their own market remains to be seen.