DAIRY PRODUCE EXPORT.

Waipa Post, Volume XXIV, Issue 1419, 23 October 1923, Page 4

DAIRY PRODUCE EXPORT.

ABUNDANT proof of the importance of the dairy produce export trade of the Dominion is given in the twentyninth annual report of W. "Weddel and Co., Ltd. For the twelve months ended on June 30th last, New Zealand supplied 63,619 tons of butter out ,of a total of 104,334 tons imported into Great Britain fr,om the British Dominions. The imports from Denmark which totalled 81,982 tons for the period, alone exceeded the total from New Zealand. In the matter of price the butter from this Dominion is still ahead of that supplied by all competitors within the Empire, but it was 10s per cwt. below the average price of Danish butter. When the disadvantages which New Zealand surfers in comparison with Denmark as a supplier of produce for Great Britain are taken into consideration this is a meritorious record. Nor is the fact to be overlooked that while the imports of butter into' Great Britain from New Zealand in 1921 were 28,085 tons, they amounted in 1922 to 43,184 tons, and for the period covered by the report they totalled a record shipment of 63,619 tons. In the exportation of cheese to Great Britain the Dominion easily beats all other countries, her nearest competitor in regard to quantity being Canada. The figures for the past season were 73,125 tons from New Zealand and 45,828 tons from Canada. In regard to price the New Zealand commodity brought 4s per cwt. above that from the sister Dominion. The import trade in dairy produce to Great Britain has now returned to pre-war proportions in volume. The price remains, however, above the pre-war rates. Not-

withstanding the fact that the year was generally one of declining prices the yearly averages for New Zealand, Australian and Argentine, butter quotations were slightly higher than those of 1921-22, but the average Danish quotations dropped by 12s 5d per cwt. The average of cheese quotations for the year showed Ills per cwt. for New Zealand and 107 s for Canadian, against 100 s 4d and 105 s 8d per cwt. respectively in 1921-22. On the whole, therefore, the record is one that is satisfactory to New Zealand. In view of the long association of Weddel and Co. with the export trade of the Dominion and that of other countries in the Empire the following opinion on the question of dairy produce control should be read with interest:—"From the , point of view of the London end of the busines it is felt that the main object of the Bill, which is to secure better prices, can be achieved by means of closer co-operation amongst the interests concerned, without resorting to compulsory measures. On the other hand, that object may quite conceivably be defeated if bureaucratic control be substituted for the present system of open competition."