U.S. COULD BE A MARKET FOR NEW ZEALAND BUTTER

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 13, Issue 61, 7 March 1949, Page 5

U.S. COULD BE A MARKET FOR NEW ZEALAND BUTTER

The opinion that it would not be long before New Zealand would have to look for new markets for her dairy produce was expressed by Mr W. N. Perry, Dominion President of Federated Farmers, to a gathering of Bay of Plenty farmers at Edgecumbe on Thursday night. In preparation for the new market he considered that efforts should be made now to find future possible buyers. When conditions return to normal, Mr Perry said, margarine would come back on the market again and this product to New Zealand butter in England was a definite menace. Should Start Now “We should start looking now,” he continued, “and I don’t think we have to look any further than the United States. That country will provide New Zealand with a great market for dairy produce, especially butter.” Mr Perry said he was in San Francisco towards the end of last year and had found butter to be very scarce. It was really unofficially rationed. He related an incident which proved the popularity of New Zealand butter. While in Hawaii 1 the Aorangi had arrived with 50 tons of New Zealand butter. It received much publicity and advertising in the papers and there was a rush to buy it. He had walked into a shop and found it selling for 6/3 a lb., while in conversation with different people he had been asked repeatedly, why did not New Zealand send more butter. The Hawaiians and -the Americans regarded it as the best butter in the world. Great Market “There is a great market for our produce,” Mr Perry added. “However, if we ever export to the United States negotiations should be done through the farming organisations of that country and not with commercial firms. In this way we would have the co-operation of the American farmer and not his opposition.”