DAIRYING.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1443, 18 May 1912, Page 8

DAIRYING.

SOUTH ISLAND ASSOCIATION.

The -annual ropurt of tho ! South island Dairy Association of New Zoaldiiu, Ltd., states that tho membership consists ot 83 factories in Canterbury, Otago, ™d Southland, these Loins practicall} the whole of them. In addition to mdeut otdeis for factory requisites totalling tho association was usotul in selling cheese locally, having for tho year paid a net sum of .1:12,208 65.. 4d. to lactones ivho entrusted the association vri h the sale of their cheese. Nouo ot this was sold for export", except a fewJons lor South Africa. Local prices ranged fiom ojd. per lb. up to <d., and u-iy little at a lower price.

The British Markets, Tho British mark'ets have ruied at very high prices both for cheese ana butter. Butter ruled up '« 13a . s -P® r cwt starting curly iit Noionibci at ldu».» and' did not fall bolow 120s. till the middle of April, when it began to fall steadily, mainly owing to tiio coming of spring and heavier supplios. kjjen during the great strike in March butter

Et A "large number of butter factories sold their outputs to end of Maich at ll.d. to 113 d. f.0.b., and buyers will have rtoi.e so well that it should encourago them to buv freely again.. A 'erv was at one time raisedby a section of Iho British press that ilie.se high prices were due to a corner manipulating the market. They were probably instigated by a section ol simulators who had, as tliey usually do, sold New Zealand butter forward, without io< ding any at llGs., expecting the market: to tall below llGs., but tliey had to buy at wife, and over to fill their contracts. There i« the best of authority for saving that this year the high prices werodne to a real shortage from drought in the summer and autumn in Britain and on the Continent, aud in America and Canada. No market nianipujation was needled as tho following will snow. Lhc I imports from all sources from January to June, 1911, were and from

July to December, 1,005,1»3cwt., a drop of 692.970cwt. So intense was the drought in Britain that Is. pel-gallon and over was paid fanners for milk by town jnilK suppliers during the. summer and autumn of 1911, and a large quantity of nnlk was diverted from butter and cheese-making. There never probably was a season in which so little market manipulation took place. The drought ami its eftects ruled the situation all along.' The Cheese Market. Thro South Island cheese companies mostly sold at from Gd. to (Ud. f.0.b., their outputs to end of April or Hay. Only two factories- sold at sjd. There was a general eagerness to sell, and all was sold before the 1111 dale or September, mostly in August. -Ibis was

much earlier than generally, and, as results proved, the association could have done better probably by waiting. Buyers will make a good profit, however, and will not be grudged it, as it has not always been so with them. The very few who consigned will net from Gijd. to 7d. f.o.b. When the first of tlle ch «esa got Homo in January, the market stood at 735. por ewt. (as against 595. 3d. the previous January), and has gone as high as 755., and now lately down to G9s. Gd., but has now risen again to 725., with a firm market and an active demand. In cheese as in butter, the high price.? were due solely to shortage through drought both in Canada and the United Kingdom. From July tq end of March Canadian imports were . Tl.OOOcwt. less than same period previous year, and the decrease will be greater by end of May. the increase in New Zealand cheese not making up for

this shortage. There was no market manipulation till about the middle of April, when, as is usual, there,.was, it is au attempt 'to ' lower prices in view of the Canadian season opening soon. There were in evidence even in March forward sellers, of Canadian June makos at. from 61s. to G3s., c.i.f. Liverpool'or London; but the shortage cannot be scon got over, and New Zealand cheese will, for the next few months, rule considerably higher than the snnng makes of Canadian, and it is probable prices will not go lower for a time. The Export Season, . The spring weather was not cold and wintrv,' and against good milk production; and up to the end of December the exports were considerably short of the previous season. ' The New Zealand butter export season commences in September, and cheese in October. But in Otago and Southland there is very little export at all till November. In January conditions improved a little, but in the south the weather was sunless and cold, and pastures were never at their best, and from April onwards the weather has been colder than usual, wet and sunless, and against heavy milk production. : ■ It. is therefore satisfactory that we have done remarkably well, and show a considerable increase in our exports, both from the Dominion as a whole and from Lyttelton, Dunedin, and Bluff, from which ports the produce of the association is exported. From the Dominion, taking London and "West of England shipments together, we show a slight increase on butter shipments, and this, added to 52,028 boxes to Vancouver and Pan Francisco, and SG3G boxes butter to South Africa this season, makes our butter export—all things consatisfactory, and ahead of last season. Our cheese shipments, London and West of England, show the very satisfactory increase of 7G.53G crates of cheese—4500 tons.

Vancouvcr-San Francisco Butter. Tho Vancouver-San ' Francisco butter trade is a comparatively new development, but a most important one, for a large trade can be done, much larger than we were in a position to do this senson. Buyers for this trade freely offered Is. to Is. Id., a much higher price than London buyers paid; but most of tho New Zealand butter was tied up, either by sale or on consignment agreement to London. From October to April tho Union Steam Ship Company's monthly royal mail steamers carried 52,028 Ixixes, but at least three times this quantity could have been sold . had it been available. In future, butter factories should keep this trade in view, and reserve the right to sell some of their output for this trade, which is a growing one. Shipments will be wanted from October (possibly September) to April inclusive, it arrives during the Canadian winter and early spring. The demand for New Zealayd butter there will greatly increase. New Zealand butter has made a name for itself on the Pacific Coast, and buyers must have done remarkably well out of their purchases, for even in New York and • Montreal butter was at 1505., and about 7000 boxes of Now Zealand butter were shipped from London to America in Jnnuary and February, and some even to Montreal. This is really a valuable trade for Now Zealand, and demands cultivation and consideration. I/m----don is our great market, but we need not put quite all our eggs in the ono basket. The high American tariff militates against New Zealand butter, also Trusts to some extent, but from appearances tariffs and Trusts on foodstuffs may shortly be no longer suffered to exist in America, and this trade must bo watched closely. No preservative may be used in butt*? for America. This is ono of their Customs laws really made to effect further protection. Tho quantity of preservative used by our best factories is so small that it is doubtful if an analyst could find traces of it in our butteT, and somo factories don't ueo it at all. Probably with a pure salt like tho Lymin salt, now largely used, any preservative is quite unnecessary, and its use will bo largely discontinued at our butter factories. South African Shipments. As to South African shipments of butter and cheese, Australia, being nearer South Africa, and having direct steamers to Durban and Cape Town, does a much larger trade than New Zealand. Still, somo I South African buyers much prefer New Zealand butter and cheese, even though it costs I hem more in both prico and freight. The trado is small, however! 5031! .boxes of butter and t(!G2 c.rntes of chee-je were shipped since June 1 to date (May 31).

Quality of Cheese and Butter. Now Zealand butter has steadily maintained its prido of placo as tho bost colonial button .coming into London, bo-

ing always ahead in price of Australian by at least 4s. per cwt. New Zealand oheeso stands in good tavour ill Britain, but might be improved in flavour. Our best butter is, in the opinion ot experts, quite equal to tho best Danish, and tho question arises: Why docs il not bring the same price? I'robably it would if we, liko the Danes, could sup-

ply tho British grocer with our butter regularly !i2 weeks in the year. When a couutrv like Denmark, with severe winter, can do this, it would l>e ab.-urd to sav that New Zealand, with its comparatively mild winter and genial climate, could not do it. Whether we shall do so to secure this enhanced price, is for tlie dairymen supplying the butter factories to consider. Then again as to our cheese, tho question is often asked: Why aro English and Scotch bringing 10s. to 20s. per cwt. over New Zealand cheese. The answer to this is mainly that this milk generally supplied to our factories is not clean-flavoured, and the milk from which this high priced English and Scotch cheeso is made at tho farm is absolutely clean flavoured. As a matter, of tact, ttt make, our New Zealand cheese is as good, and sometimes hotter than English cheese, but in flavour we go down. We . have meu in our factories who, with milk of

tho same quality as used by tho British farmer, will make cheese of equal quality. Indeed, we have two or three men who iiavo in post yours made cheeso in Britain which commanded tho very highest prices, and won prizes at tho great Kilmarnock and other shows. Tho report pays a tribute to tho work done by the Dairy Commissioner (Mr. I). Cudilie) and bis slaflf on behalf of tho dairy, industry. The Futuro. In conclusion the repurl says -it is dangerous to prophesy, but it. looks as if wo shall have as good prices paid for cheese and buttur next. year as this. Tho Continent of Europe are taking every year a larger quantity of Danish and Siberian and Swedish butter, that thus lessens tho British supply. In cheese, Canada even in a normal seaeon is gradually lessening her export, quito as fast as New Zealand is increasing. Holland, the only other big supplier, does not increase, but rather tends to decrease, and then the towns of Britain aro taking every year a large ouantity of milk for their town supply, and lessening very considerably the amount available for the British make of cheese and butter. It really looks as if "All's well" with New Zealand's prospects for dairy produce.