DAIRY PRODUCE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 77, Issue 221, 18 September 1934, Page 9

DAIRY PRODUCE

BOTH MARKETS SLOW DECREASE IN PRICES The London butter market was very quiet again last week, with a further easing in prices, and closed slow at 72s to 765, a fall of about 4s on the week. Deliveries of New Zealand butter last week totalled 1324 compared with 1546 tons for the previous week, and 2277 tons a year ago. The quality of New Zealand butter in store is now slowly decreasing, and last week was 10,948 tons, compared with 11,148 tons for the previous week, and 6788 tons a year ago. The cheese market was also again quiet last week, with prices 6d. to Is 6d. easier. The Dairy Board’s London office reports Friday’s official closing quotations as follow, those for the previous week being shown in parentheses Butter. New Zealand, salted, 72s to 765. ex. 80s (76s to 78s; September 14, 1933, 98s to 101 s); (72s to 76s equals approx. 83d. f.0.b.); unsalted. 86s (86s to 88s; September 14, 19.33, 102 s to 104 s). Deliveries. New Zealand, 1324 tons; in store, 10,948 tons, including 1100 tons ex Westmoreland and Port Brisbane. Australian, salted, 72s to 73s (745); unsalted, 75s to 77s (76s to 78sk Deliveries, Australian, 1470 tons; in store, 6214 tons. Danish, 84s f.0.b.; 104 s to 105 s spot (88s; 104 s). Dutch, unsalted, 66s to 76s (66s to 765). Estonian, salted and unsalted, 50s to 62s (60s to 65sk Latvian, salted and unsalted, 59s to 64s (65s to 665). Lithuanian, salted, 59s to 64s (60s to 645); unsalted, 50s to 62s (60s to 645). Siberian, salted, 62s to 645. Polish, salted, 52s to 58s (55s to 60s). Ukranian, salted, 61s to 62s The board has also received the following advice from its agents in Canada:—Butter: New York, 25 cents; Montreal, 19J cents. U.S.A, stocks, 53,765 tons (last year 78,337 tons). Canadian stocks, 22,515 tons (last year 18,758 tons). Cheese. New Zealand, white, 47s to 47s 6d, ex 48s (5.05 d. f.0.b.) (48s 6d; September 14, 1933, 52s 6d to 535). Coloured, 44s 6d to 455, ex 45s 6d (4.75 d. f.0.b.) (45s 6d to 16s; September 14, 1933, 52s 6d to 54s 6d). Deliveries, New Zealand, 21,629 crates, in store, 137,691 crates. Canadian, white, 50s to 52s (50s to 525); coloured, 51s to 52s (50s to 525); fe.i.f., 48s 6d (50s). Deliveries, Canadian, 6808 boxes; in store, 87,044 boxes. Agents’ Reports. The New Zealand Producers’ Cooperative Marketing Association’s weekly cabled market report from London dated September 14, is as follows: Butter: Market slow. New Zealand, finest grade, 75s to 765; first grade, 71s to 745. Danish, 104 s to 105 s. Cheese: Market quiet. New Zealand, white 47s to 47s 6d; coloured, 44s 6d to 455. Mr. Thomas Gray has received the following cable from Mr. A. C. Rowson, dated London, September 14:—Cheese: New Zealand, white, 47s 6d per cwt.; coloured, 45s 6d. Butter: First grade, 74 s per cwt.; finest grade, 765. Both markets very slow, future doubtful. A. H. Turnbull and Co., Ltd., have received the following cable from their principals, W. Weddel and Co., Led., dated London, September 14:—Butter: Market slow. Danish, 104 s to 105 s. New Zealand finest, 71s to 765. Kangaroo finest. 71s to 735. Cheese: Market quiet. New Zealand white, 47s to 47s 6d; coloured, 44s 6d to 455. Minimum F. 0.8. Prices. The New Zealand Dairy Produce Board has fixed the minimum prices for f.o.b. and c.i.f. sales on the basis of:— Butter, 83d. f.0.b.; cheese, 4 7-Bd. f.o.b. These prices are to rule until Friday night, September 21. THE BRITISH MARKET. FOREIGN PRACTICES. LONDON, Aug. 4. Mr, J. Gillard chairman of the Finance and General Purposes Committee of the British Dairy Farmers’ Association, writes:— Ihe Ottawa Agreements were drafted with the object of encouraging Empire as against foreign trade. It is, therefore, disturbing to find on examining the half-yearly statistics of the Board of Trade, that in the six months ended June 30 our total imports of European butter increased by the colossal figure of 423,000 cwt, roughly 23 per cent. This is more than one pound weight a head increase for every man, woman and child in the United Kingdom. “It is obvious that the 15s a cwt protective duty imposed upon foreign butter is an adequate foil wherewith to oppose the various economic devices to which foreign producers resort m order to flood our markets. Practically all the European dairying countries uow assist their producers to export butter at uneconomic prices— most of them by subsidising or by stabilising domestic'prices. The situation is aggravated by the imposition of rigid quotas by countries that were formerly considerable importers of butter, e.g., by Germany, which has virtually closed her market to the Baltic States. Consequently, exporting countries had to find a way of overcoming the British tariff barrier, and ‘stabilisation’ of domestic prices was found to be the most effectual weapon. “Why all this talk about Empire quotas? Surely the first step towards preventing the saturation of the British market would be a clear warning to foreign countries against persisting in their uneconomic practices. Much has been said about the economic power wielded by buying countries. When are we going to learn to apply it?”