JAPANESE BUTTER

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 108, 8 May 1936, Page 11

JAPANESE BUTTER

SHIPMENT TO LONDON CLAIMS OF CONSIGNEES local TRADE UNPERTURBED The arrival of a shipment of Japanese butter, with the prospect of further consiignnients later, is reported in a Press Association cablegram from London. However, the da'ry trade in Auckland considers that the chances of serious interference with New Zealand’s butter trade are very remote, states t'he New Zealand Herald. The message states: “A merit of 2000 boxes of Japanese butter is being marketed in Tooley Street. The consignees state that it contains some of the finest they have seen. It is selling freely in spite of a duty of 15s per cwt. A swond shipment is expected shortly, arwl big shipments are contemplated next year. Under the supervision of Danish experts it is planned to increase the output. Australia House officials are investigating the probable output but do not regard the Japanese butter as a serious menace at present.” Exporters in Auckland are unwilling to believe that the Japanese butter mentioned is some of the finest seen in I ooley Street or (hat big ohipinents ar® expected in the future. This is the fust time that any butter fruin Japan has been marketed in London, and the shipment .s not expected to be the forerunner of a regular trade in dairy produce. The consignment iU<4f will have little influence on the market, as it amounts to 50 tdns only, whereas New Zealand places about 400 tons on th© London market every day. According to the Japan-Mftnchukuo Year Book, 1935, the butter produced in two Japanese districts, Hokkaido and Koiwai, is as good as foreign produce and the latter has disappeared from the market. A New Zealand expert, who visited Japan a few years ago, said recently that Japanese butter was of a waxy texture and corresponded to New Zeal'and and Australian second-grade. It la’cks a distinctive fl a vour. It is understood that (he Japanese Government is endeavouring to encourage the consumption of fats in Japan in order to increase tho stature of the people. Butter is not commonly eaten in Japan and only about 2000 tons are produced every year. The main dairying district is Hokkaido and the largest factory, the Hokkaido Dairv Company, is modelled on New Zealand dairy company factories, which were visited by Japanese engineers some voars ago. Danish farmers established the industry in Japan. Japan exports a small quantity of butter to {Shanghai, but tlu, export is practically balanced by imports of butter for the foreign population in Japan. A certain quantity of sweetened condensed milk is exported to British Mayayn. The consumption of butler is increasing in Japan, and it is unlikely that exports will be a permanent feature of the dairying induT ry there.