RISE IN PRICE OF BUTTER HAS NOT PUT MARGARINE SALES UP

Wanganui Chronicle, 21 July 1950, Page 5

RISE IN PRICE OF BUTTER HAS NOT PUT MARGARINE SALES UP

LONDON, July 18.—Sufficient time hat now elapsed since the price of butter in Britain was Increased In April from 1/6 a lb to 1/10 a lb to mak» an estimate as to whether tha higher price has resulted in the public buying less butter and more margarine. All reports indicate that there has in fact been no change. It is reliably stated that the "offtake” of the butter ration is still 99 per cent, and that although there is now a difference in the price between butter and margarine of 1//- a lb, there has been no increase in demand for margarine which is still not being fully taken up on ration. Whether all families are buying the five ounces of butter to which they are entitled for each person is not clear. It js stated that some families may be taking less than the full ration. If this is so, then others havo found they are able to secure more from their grocers, for there has been no reduction of total sales.

The intelligence bulletin for July of the Commonwealth Economic Committee shows there has been a sharp increase in the first five months of this year in the manufacture of dairy produce in the United Kingdom compared with the same period last year. Milk used for butter-making during January to May this year totalled 46,000,000 gallons, compared with 29,000,000 gallons during the same period in 1949. It is just above the prewar figure of 42.000,000. Milk used for cheese production has also increased, and to a greater extent than the quantities used for butter compared to before the war. In the first five months of this year it totalled 70.5 million gallons, compared with 45.6 million gallons in 1949 and 32 million gallons in 1939. This increase in home-produced cheese will help compensate for reduced supplies of cheese imported during the first five months of this year from Canada, the United States and Europe. The total supplies have fallen from 1,942,000 hundredweight in 1949 to 1.283,000 hundredweight. It is understood that unless cheese imported from America increases in the coming months, there may be difficulty in maintaining the British ration at two ounces per person. The t n tal imports of butter into the United Kingdom during the period under review increased by eight per cent compared with 1949, imports from Denmark rising by 41 per epnt.