The Wanganui Chronicle. "NULLA DIES SINE LINEA." MONDAY, MARCH 17, 1924. FLOODING THE MARKET

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXI, Issue 18965, 17 March 1924, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle. "NULLA DIES SINE LINEA." MONDAY, MARCH 17, 1924. FLOODING THE MARKET

“Once again the dairy farmers of New Zealand have had to pay the penalty of irregular shipments of their produce to the London market. ” This opinion was expressed by a Taranaki expert on Friday last, when pointing out to a representative of -the New Plymouth News that the rapid decline in quotations for butter and'cheese was largely due to the fact that in a little- over three weeks Tooley Street had been compelled to deal with a fraction over a sixth of the Dominion’s annual output of butter and slightly more than a third of the output of cheese. New Zealand’s annual exportation of butter and ehcese is about 60,000 tons of each commodity. In the .period between February 8 and March 8, the arrivals in London amounted to 9714 tons of butter and 18,913 tons of cheese. The fall in prices has been heavy. On February 8 butter was quoted at 200 s and cheese at 96s to 98s, but in the following week the market had receded to 194 s to 196 s for butter and 92s to 94s for cheese. The dockers’ strike prevented business during the week which ended on February 23, but a fall was again noted at the end of the next week, the market report being/butter 184 s, steady at the reduction; cheese 90s after touching 86s to 88s steady. Last week’s quotations were butter 170 s to 174 s on a weak market, and cheese 84s to 86s per cwt„ in both cases a drop on the previous week. While it is always risky to prophesy where the London dairy produce is concerned, there are many who expect values to go a good deal lower before the pendulum commences to swing in the other direction. The shipments responsible for the glut of New Zealand dairy produce in London were:—Arawa, 62,020 boxes butter and 12,346 erates of cheese; Ruahine, 36,633 and 11,644; Rimutaka, 39,106 and 25,928; Pakeha, 36,211 and 36,157; Port Denison, 52,973 and 30,647; Dorset, 11,733 and 32,358; Mahia, 61,851 and 35,414; Middlesex, 16,651 and 35,513;. Turakina, 50,219 and 28,293; and Port Kembla, 20,190 and 16,481. The totals are 388,587 boxes of butter and 264,781 erates of cheese. The Arawa, Ruahine, Rimutaka, Pakeha and Port Denison arrived during the week which ended on February 16, when the threat of the dockers’ strike was in the air. The Mahia, Middlesex and Turakina arrived about a fortI ’night later and the Port Kembla some ten days ago. Due to arrive this month to further jeopardise the market are 274,078 boxes of butter and 109,434 (crates of cheese. Discussing the position, the Taranaki expert said it was expected that there would be a substantial fall in prices when the known heavy shipments were placed on the

market. The dockers’ strike firmed prices for spot stocks and made the market look better than otherwise it would have been. When the strike lasted only a few days, those who had bought stocks at high prices in anticipation of a long period of inactivity at the docks naturally held off buying, with the result that the big cargoes loaded from the accumulated shipments did not find a ready sale and prices had to come down in order to effect a clearance. Slow discharge had prevented quotations from going down too quickly. “The race now,” the expert said, “will be between the consumptive power of the market and ihe likelihood of an early spring in the northern hemisphere. Prospects, in the ordinary course, are that prices will seasonably decline as the spring in the Old World opens.” In regard to cheese, the expert said that an inclination bn the part of shippers to withhold stocks as they arrive is firming the market temporarily. It is a question, he added, whether this is a wise policy and whether the further big arrivals that are coming on top of thb stocks already landed, if carried too far into the spring, may not cause a very serious break in prices. “It has to be borne in mind,” he concluded, “that the storage of chees incurs the risk of the possible deterioration in the quality of goods manufactured in hot weather, together with increased shrinkage. There is also the additional costs of storage.”