The Butter Market

Horowhenua Chronicle, 12 May 1911, Page 4

The Butter Market

The season for exporting butter is nearly at an end, for very little is going forward now and the factories are, .storing to meet loeail demands in the winter. It cannot be said that the season luas been a good one from a market point of view, for at no time has the price touched 112s. Just before .Easter when the market is stimulated by the holiday demand

the price for choicest New Zealand was only 109s, while a year ago the quotation was 1225. This serves to emphasise the fact that the butter market is a fluctuating one, and that must ever be the ease with a commodity dependent upon climatic conditions. The season possesses some very peculiar features that are worth noting. 11l August last year when the dealers wore swa,rnw'ng in the country rushing from factory to factory in an endeavour to secure supplies some very absurd offers were made and some risky terms Were agreed to under the stress of competition. The prices paid and the advances made without recourse ranged from 10:[d to Hid, and we place the average at about lid per lb. Not content with paying this comparatively high price, and as the market bias turned out, absurdly high prices, the dealers in some oases engaged to obtain prices equal to the best prices obtained fur New Zealand butter, othei-s undertook to materially reduce the margin of difference between Danish and New Zealand butters, and so forth — conditions that have in most cases failed in their fulfilment. A new feature in marketing was attempted 'by the National Dairy Association. This Association secured the -support of a number of factories to consign their outputs exeilusiivcfy to one or two firms, thus diverting the distribution of the butter into new channels. This action of the National Dairy Association caused resentment in Tooley street, and had an effect diametrically opposed to that Anticipated by the Association. Instead of this control by one or two helping to advance prices it amused; the animosity of competitors mho attacked the New Zealand product and discredited it in the eyes of consumers in a most effective way. They questioned the quality of the butter, and to this there could beno defence. Even assuming that the butter ivas of the highest quality and equal to the standard of previous years, proof of this could not- be given to the consumers. T'hare was some feeble attempt at advertising, and although the two full-page advertisements which appeared in the Dai'iv Mail were striking and caught the eye they failed in effectiveness because they were not good advertisements. One advertisement merely showed a map of New Zealand with the localities where butter and cheese were made and the other gave a list of retailers in Great Britain who handled Nfcw Zealand product. Nothing was said as to the quality of the butter—at least nothing convincing, nor ■tvas there any mention made of the strenuous and continuous efforts made by the factories and the Government to ensure the production of the highest class article. The advertisements did not "talk" quality and therefore were defective. They did not answer the charges of inferior quality which were made by prominent wholesalers. For instance, one circular dated February 17 had the following" The quality of New Zealand butter is, each steamer, worse than the previous one, and buyers are turning their attention to the best brands of Victorian which are undoubtedly the j finest butter coming from the colonics this year, possibly owing to the climatic conditions prevailing." Tn an advertisement appearing in the Grocer (London), of February 1 8, one firm says:—"The colonial market to-day is very firm for finest goods, but- the quality of undesirable New Zealand on the market makes quotations for that article very irregular and, as a market guide very misleading. The topical question in our trade to-day is: What is finest New Zealand butter?" Another firm advertising in the same paper remarks .•—"Danish is advanced 3 kroner, probably on account of the indifferent quality of a large percentage of the New Zealand, and which no amount of advertising will make any better." Now the question arises whether these statements made publicly are merely the tactics of those wishing to "bear" New Zealand .butter or are they warranted by actual facts, if the latter, what have the Government graders at this end to say in defence? The Dairy Division costs the country a good deal of money, and while we are ready to believe that the dairy industry has benefitted by the existence of the Dairy Department we also know that the people of New Zealand have to pay an extortionate price for the butter they consume. The butter trade is in for a new experience.

The trouble experienced this season arises from the fact that the Commonwealth has been able to increase its output and l the quality of the product has been exceptionally good. Australia has had an abundant rainfall, and the outlook is exceedingly promising. Tf New Zealand _ has again to .face the keen competition of Australia there will be no fancy prices, and the dealers will not be quite"~so aggressively stupid as they were last August." Furthermore, the ground lost this season will 1)9 difficult to recover. — Mercantile Gazette.