BUTTER-FAT PAYMENTS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2357, 19 November 1921, Page 3

BUTTER-FAT PAYMENTS.

DISTRICT FIGURES FOR - OCTOBER.

COMPARISON WITH AUCKLAND DISTRICT.

UNSETTLING FACTORS IN LONDON.

The effect of the slump of (he butter market in London is seen in the payments for butter-fat supplied to district factories for the month of October, which are now available. The top price was again paid by the Mangawhata cheese factory, whose suppliers received Is 9d per lb. This company was one of the fortunate few that disposed of the whole of this season’s output at a good figure just before the market collapsed. Generally speaking, with one or two exceptions the , figures paid out by the various factories for September have been maintained for October, and compared with the returns netted by suppliers in other parts of the Dominion, the local farmers have no reason for complaint. The October payments are as fidlows: —Mangawhafa (cheese) Is 9d per lb., Tiakitahuna (cheese) Is fid, Rangiotu (cheese) Is 4d, Awaburi (butter) Is 3d, New Zealand Farmers’ Dairy Union (butter) Is 3d, Tokomaru (cheese) Is 3d, Kairanga (butter and cheese) Is 3d. Ravenswood,.Linton (cheese) Is 3d, Bainesse (cheese) Is 2d, Whakaronga (cheese ) Is, Manawatu Reliance Is. LOCAL MEN BETTER OFF. . In the South Auckland province the position is apparently far more unfavourable than that obtaining locglly, reductions involving a fall of sixpence all round having been announced by the South Auckland Dairy Association for October. The payments made by the dairy factories comprising the association were: —Butter-fat for butter making, first grade Is, supertine Is ltd; for cheese making, Is Id; for milk powder Is Id. The prices paid for the previous month were: Butterfat for butter making, first grade Is 5Jd, superfine Is fidj for cheese, Is fid; for milk powder, Is 7d. The association recommended in view of; the fact that the advances being made from London for high grade butter appeared to be out of all proportion to the value, that a supplementary payment he made on October butler-fat later, should London prices warrant it.

Taking Is Id per lb. as the average price being paid out in South Auckland, it will be seen that farmers in the Palmerston North district are in the majority of cases receiving from 2d to 4d per lb. more for their butter-fat than up north, and in one case the difference in favour of the local factory amounts to 7d per lb. A WORD OF WARNING. The degree of satisfaction felt on this account is, however, tempered by the opinion held in well-in-formed circles that in view of the amount of the present advances being paid to factories on the score of consignments, the companies- are not justified in most cases in paying out more than Is per lb. at the present juncture. “Except in the case of' those factories which were lucky enough to sell their season’s output, I cannot see,” remarked the secretarv of one company to a Standard reporter, “how the local factories are managing to make such favourable payments to their suppliers. I realise, of course, Hint local sales for consumption within the Dominion may tend to improve their position, but not to the extent apparently disclosed in the Octobei payments. Personally, I am inclined to think that the margin between the amount advanced and Hie full market price should he increased.”

An interesting phase of the situation is the unprecedented condition of the butter market in London during the past few weeks, owing to the marked differences in the price ol different butters. The uncertainty as to the extent of the stock of butler still held by the Imperial Government is also an unsettling factoi. It is also believed in some quarters that, a great deal of the Imperial Government’s stock is of extremely poor quality. Another factor to he considered at the present time is that during the last year or two speculator buyers are reported to have lost heavily on their purchases of butter and cheese, and are therefore very anxious, and arc operating merely hand to mouth. In the circumstances it is possible that all these unsettling factors are inducing London houses to act with extreme caution, lmt many factories in New Zealand are of opinion that the arrival in London of the new season’s make of .butter, which is of very fine quality, will establish more stable values and restore confidence. Meanwhile, the position in the Palmerston North district is being helped by the fact that some factories are paying out,bonuses on account of last season’s make, these in addition to the October payments recorded above.—Standard.