BUTTER PRICE MYSTERY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 75, Issue 12, 15 January 1932, Page 9

BUTTER PRICE MYSTERY

DANISH SELLS AT 1/4 ONLY 1/1 FOR NEW ZEALAND. J- MORRINSVI.LLD, Jan. 12. Several million pounds sterling are being lost to New Zealand dairy farmJ ers and the country as a whole this s season, owing to the unaccountable 2 fact that for the past three months i Danish butter has been selling in London at 30s to 40s per cwt. more than the best butter New Zealand can ex- , port. Farmers hit hard by the low ad- , vanccs made by their dairy companies ’ are asking why there should be such a difference. British housewives are now paying 3d per pound more for Danish butter i than for New Zealand finest butter, which has been graded 93 points or 94 points at the Auckland grading stores this season, and has been described in glowing terms by the Tooley Street merchants in - their reports to New Zealand factories. Farmers throughout ’ the Waikato want very much to know why Danish butter has been selling at r Is 4d in the English grocers’ shops since October 31, while in the same period New Zealand finest butter has ' dropped from Is 2d to Is Id. Big Publicity Campaign, i ‘‘iti ouv advertising and salesmanship in all its branches at Home at fault?' is the question asked in a report pre . seated to-day at a meeting of directors of the Morrinsvillo Co-op. Dairy Company, which is making over 20UU tons of butter this season. “It would pay the New Zealand dairying industry , to spend almost unlimited funds on salesmanship and advertising in Britain if such a campaign would have [-• made up the leeway in the price of . New Zealand butter as compared with . Danish,’’ The report frankly is unable - to account for the big differ-enco in prices. It is a mystery. The comparatively high wholesale I price paid for Danish butter—it was 136 s per cwt. ou January 2, when New Zealand was quoted at 98s 6d —seems ’ to deny tho popular assertion that present low prices for New Zeal ami produce are caused by the financial troubles of the Home market. If that i market is impoverished, how is it that ‘ it can afford to pay 36 per cent, more for Danish than for New Zealand? The ; reason must be either that Danish j quality completely overshadows New Zealand quality or that our salesmanship at Home is at fault. Tributes to Quality. The report goes on to prove that • there is nothing wrong with tho qual- . ity of our butter, and extracts arc , given from reports received by the , company from A. C. Bowson, of Tooley i Street: 4< Ex s.s. Rangitane, flavour extremely good. Has a most attractive buttery aroma. Texture very good, finish good, colour uniformly correct , shade.” “Ex s.s. Tainui: Flavour very . fine indeed. Has a pleasing creamy . finish, texture good, colour uniform, finish attractive.’’ In the face of constant reports from the merchants that New Zealand butter is arriving in splendid condition, says the report, how can anyone account for the fact that the market will only take our butter at a discount of 30 | per cent? Ten shillings should be the . normal difference in price between I Danish and. New Zealand butter, which ! leaves an unaccountable difference of I about 30s per cwt. If the price of I New Zealand butter was 128 s, as it j should be, our suppliers would be tc- ! ceiving Is 24d per pound of butterjfat instead, of 10{-d, as was the case i in st. -month ’’