LONDON BUTTER MARKET.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1690, 5 March 1913, Page 10

LONDON BUTTER MARKET.

INCREASING MARGARINE IMPORTS. According to advice received from London, .dated JanuAry 17, the outstanding feature of the trado returns in regard to the butter industry, is the increase in tho import of margarine. It 13 reported to be the belief: in tho trade generally that tho largo excess irt import, over the previous year, valued at .£1,052.720, has had a depressing effect upon present butter values. Large as is tho import of margarine, the figures really gavo no reliable data as to tile, actual consumption, fol there aro no 'accurate figures' available, as to tho amount made in tho United Kingdom.

It is interesting to note that the mu. terials used in the manufacture of mar. garino have changed considerably in th» last few years. This change, too, is still going on. Instead of being- made mostly of aniipal fats, vegetable fats aro being used;— principally cooonut. These have no special, or distinct, flavour, and are known in tho trado as "neutral fats." They arts produced cheaply, and there is no doubt, that the resultant butter substitute finds a large sale. The improvement in quality which has taken place makes it now diffi cult for the ordinary housewife to tell- it from pure-butter. Certainly tliose fol whom shi) caters oannot. The mode' of selling tho margarine is as interesting as it is "cute." The usual prico is from 6d to Bd. per lb. But the shops, nearly all of thorn, especially the multiple shops, advertise it at lOd. or Is. per lb., with Jib. overweight. This is a more respectable amount for the working-class wife to name when ordering her goods. She will ask openly for a "pound of shilling" when she would hesitate to' ask for a "pound of. fivepenny or sixpenny." She saves her amour propre: Margarine, however, cannot stand altogether against cheap butter, though once it is taken the tendency is to continue its use. For its great support, it depends upon high-priced - butter.