BUTTER VALUES

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 59, 7 September 1926, Page 6

BUTTER VALUES

DANISH PBICE-FIXIKG OOK-

DBMNBD.

A great source, of irritation to British buyers is the present mode of fixing the official butter price every week in Copenhagen, writes Mr. Harald Faber, Agricultural Adviser to the Danish State, in a report prepared for the Ministry of Agriculture. The price is fixed practically without regard to the tendency of the market. Bat the worst aspect of the matter is that the weekly fluctuations are so heavy that the whole trade, which once was a steady-going business, has since the war become a speculation. It has been asserted that the price fixed is not intended to be the market price abroad, but 'merely the basis for settlements between Danish dairies and exporters. This' is false modesty, avers Mr. Faber, for the figure arrived at every Thursday is of great influence in many countries. For two and a half years—from January, 1923, to the middle of 19£J—the four big British margarine works supplied margarine to retailers at one unchanged price, and the price now is unlikely to be changed for a long time to come. There is no doubt tnat this Bteadiness in price has contributed largely to the popularity of margarine in Great Britain, where the sales have increased since 1914 by 77,000 tons, whereas the consumption of butter has only gone up by 24,000 tons. The Danish Minister of Agriculture, M. Bording, has informed the Press that he quite agrees with Mr, Faber, and it is furthermore understood, that the Butter Export Committee intends to examine the possibility of avoiding these fluctuations, which are greater than those to which butters from other countries are subject* ■• ■