MORE BUTTER EATEN

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 19, 15 October 1937, Page 36 (Supplement)

MORE BUTTER EATEN

World Consumption of Dairy; Produce Increases The continued expansion of milk production, which has meanl a greater relative increase in the output of ndlk products, chiefjy butter, is revealed in a report issued hy the Imperial Economic Committee, which gives a summary of figures oi production andtrade relating to butter, cheese, . preserved milk, ' eggs and egg* products. • Butter consumption has, with, few exceptions, continued to rise, and in the United Kingdom the increase in the past six. yeara has been equivalent of 7| lb. per head. The greatest increase# x have occurred in those countries where margarine consumption is a factor, and have been partly at the latter's expense, e.g., in the United Kingdom and Denmark, countries also in which the full effect of low prices was felt. The increasing consumption 'wa* checked in some countries in 1935.

High in Empire Countries Apparent butter consumption is partieurlarly Mgh in Empire countries and greatest in New Zealand and the Trish Eree State, witli over 40 lb. eaeh per liead per annum. Consumption in the TJnited Kingdom is equivalent to about 25 lb. per head, in the TJnited States of Ameriea to about 18 lb., and in Germany and Erance to about 16 lb and 12 lb. per head * respeetively. Cheese consumption also appears to have in« creased during the period under review. Empire countries. do not iigure as large consumers of cheese; the United Kingdom comes at the top with a consumption equal to about 9 lb. per head, or two and a-half timqp that of Australia or Canada. European countries show a large per capita consumption, equal to 12 to 13 lb. iu Germauy, 11 lb. in Efance, and about 13 lb. in Bwitzerland. World trade in butter contmued to increase between 1929 and 1935, due largely to shipments from Empire countries. Exports from foreign countries, chiefly European, have declined. These exports had reached a peak in 1931

and the subsequent d/ecline may be traced to low prices and increased tariffs and rgstrictions in importing countries. Eeorganisatio'n of and a» sistanee to the dairy industry has, however, -apparently revetsed the down« ward trend in the case of some e» porting countries in the past year of two. World's Biggest Buyer The TJnited Kingdom is the world's ehief butter importer, and lts share of world trade has risen from less tb»4 two-thirds of the total in 1929, to ovct four-fif ths in 1935. Actual impOrts fcsto the TJnited Kingdom increased by 50 per cent. in these seven years, and the quantity received froin Empire coiintries has more than doubled. Imports into other countries . have declined, chiefly as a result of xestrictive ■ meai sures. ..... International trade in cheese declined by about 21 per cent. between 1925 and 1935, and preliminary figures suggest that the downward trend haS -continued during 1936. Empire shipments were f airly well maintained , from 1929 tot 1934, but a reduetion in 1935 brought . that year's figure 11 per. cent, beiow that of 1929. Kew Zealand is the chief exporting eountry. Although imports of cheese into the TJnited Kingdom declined between 1929 and 1935$ the proportion of world exports taken by that country has grown to over half of the total. Nearly 90 per cent of TJnited Kingdom imports are of Empire ongin. Dairy products resisted the depression rather longer than many other farm commodities, but prices declined until 1934, by which time they had fallen more than agricultural products in general. Between 1929 and 1934, Kew Zealand butter deereased in priee by 58 per cent, and Danish butter by 46 per cent, while cheese was reduced on the average by about 50 per cent. A marked recovery took place in 1935, and for both butter and chese the'" advance contmued during 1936.