EXPORT OF HONEY

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 43, 15 November 1926, Page 6

EXPORT OF HONEY

CONTROL PROVING SATISFACTORY HIGHEST PRICES BEING OBTAINED The New Zealand Honey Control Board has sent a circular to hone yes porters reporting on the operations for the past two seasons. The enhanced prices obtained, it is stated, more than outweigh the cost of the control Strong arguments for full control are set out The first meeting of the board was held on February 25, 1925 ind at this meeting it assumed limited control ovei all honey exported to the United King dom and Europe, this control requiring that such honey should be shipped to and distributed by one agent only appointed for this purpose states the report The action of the board was designed, in so far as was expedient, to carry out the'wishes of producers expressed in their request fo> a Honey Export Control . Act, and tiieir subsequent request that the. Act be brought into, force. The reason given in asking for control was that the system of organised marketing which had volun tarily been followed had achieved con siderable success. The control taken has for its purpose the carrying out of the expressed wishes of the producers to have this svstem of marketing protected, the disorganisation of which could otherwise be brought about by shippers selling outside the organise tiou, and creating a position whereby some would be paying all the costs of securing the enhanced price while others would be securing the full bene fit of those prices, at the same time paving nothing towards the costs of maintaining the price. Limited control has operated over the 1925 and 1926 export seasons The producers who were exporting under a voluntary control through their own association were in no wise affected when con trol came into operation thev having borne , the costs of. organised marketing throughout The spreading of advertising charges and the extra commis sion over all consignments, however, increased the costs of marketing *o shippers outside of the association to that exent The number of shippers, therefore, affected by control are very few In 1925 thev .represented 2.8 per cent, of the producers, exporting, their honev representing 4.6 per cent of the whole Tn 1926 the figures were 1.89 per cent and 219 per cent respectively. _ That organised marketing has gamed a' preriiium for New Zealand honev, and that therefore the costs of maintaining the same should be equitably distributed is shown in the following figures Sales of New Zealand honev for August were made at from 60s to 80s per cwt Quotations for the same month for Canadian honev are at 40s to 565. per cwt., Californian at 47s to 58s. ana Jamaican. While a considerable portion ganised marketing New Zealand honey did not'realise equal to Californian or Jamican While a considerable portion of the premium obtained has been absorbed bv advertising charges, the balance'represents a considerable margin on the returns of New Zealand competitors. The total export for 192"> amounted to 785 tons, some 265 tons more than for 1924. The export for 1926 was 550 tons, the reduction in the amount being due to an adverse season over portions of the Dominion Sales of 192-1 season were completed tn October, 1925'- On October 31, 1926. only 99 tons of 1925 honey remained unsold. This position is verv satisfactory as the export for 1925 made it necessary to find a market for over one-third more honev than for the previous vear Sales therefore from October till October had increased from 517 tons in 1924-25 to 686 tons sold over the same period for 1925-26. With the lesser export for 1926 there should be no difficulty in clearing the whole of our stocks on hand in the ensuing twelve months. While the economic conditions in the United Kingdom have of late been unsatisfactory and have considerably af fected the' prices of Dominion products we have been able up to the present to maintain our prices, and make satisfactory sales This is highly satisfactory, especially so as Northern Europe has for the second season running had ex ceptionally good crops, and Southern California’s crop is 140 per cent, of the previous year and their local price is running one to two cents lower than last vear. Canada, on the other hand, is reported to have only 70 per cent, of the crop of last year. Business in Germany is developing satisfactorily Since July last some 54 tons have been sold, all in retail packages. This progress in the introduction of our. honev into Central Europe is satisfactory tn view of the fact that New Zealand honev pays a dutv of 40 marks per 100 kilos, or rouglilv 20s. per cwt. In conclusion, the development of organised marketing so far as the honey producers are concerned, can be considered satisfactory and the board is justified in primarily taking steps to assure that the advantage gained will not be dissipated by competitive selling. It is now proposed that the board investigate the marketing conditions with a view to ascertaining whether costs of marketing can be reduced while retaining a proportionate amount of the advantages gained and also provide for the disposal of our increasing production.—