NEW BUTTER PRICES

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 153, 2 December 1938, Page 7

NEW BUTTER PRICES

POSITION IN CHRISTCHURCH

lliv Telecraph-I'ress Association.) CHRISTCHURCH,- December 1

The new retail price for butter has not yet been fixed by grocers in Christchurch, but it is likely that there will be stabilisation within a few days. In the meantime there are different prices.

The rise in wholesale prices which was announced by the Minister of Marketing will mean some rise in the retail price. Retailers do not fear that the increase will mean much curtailment in business, but every penny on the price means that there is a certain amount of economising by housewives. Retailers recall, however, that butter sold with litDle change in volume when it was as high as 2s 3d retail.

The profit made on butter recently has been very modest, most retailers claiming that it has not paid expenses, but as butter is a line which every grocer must carry there is no escaping the position. In most parts of New Zealand butter has been at one time or another the subject of pricecutting and at times when price-cut-ting has become fierce grocers have had to sell below cost. With the fixing of the wholesale price, retail prices in most centres have been stabilised, but competition among grocers has kept the margin of profit very low.