MARKETING DAIRY PRODUCE.

Otaki Mail, 1 October 1923, Page 3

MARKETING DAIRY PRODUCE.

THE LONDON END. At Levin on Friday afternoon last. Mr. B. E. Ellison, managing director of the New Zealand Producers' Co-operative Marketing Association, and London manager oi Uie iNational Dairy Association, addressed a meeting oi dairy tanners on tlie activities 01 those organisation* in London and on matters connected with the dairying industry generally. Mr S. A. Broadueit, chairman of directors oi t.he Levin Dairy Co., presided and tlhere was a lair attendance. Mr LlUson, in opening his remarks said that the reason lor the formation of liis organisation was the fact that many people in tins country ielt, that bettor results should he obtained from the sale oi New Zealand produce in England. The result or thw efforts made by (himself and leading members ot the dairying] industry was that the National Dairy .Association was formed to market produce on • j ! iu co-operative principle. Many 01 /uu>t.e present might not be aware oi the tact but it was not an easy thing to build up a selling organisation such as. they had to-uay, without exa great deal ol opposition .ironi doui tine English and colonial v organisations. He was thankiul to say, however, that despite the difficult yeai's which followed the war years, rapidly fluctuating markets, and op- , position, they now had an organisai iion that had up to dale given good results to those wtho had sold ineir ! produce through it, and would give iieiier results m the future. A question thai Was often discussed was tne lorward selling oi produce. His Association was lormcd primarily tu sell produce on commission, but | they had had to do a certain amouni : oi mis work. A tiling in connection with ibis lorwurd selling which was ' imt generally undeistood was that i these purchases by the Dairy Produce j merchants were generally made on a jelling basis. inese people seldom bought before they had louud their j market: tliey worked on a lusts, of a; Jew shillings per owl., ami this pro- I ducu was in turn passed on from the second purchaser to a smaller fry. There were occasionally times when , the lorwuid buyer found thai he was unable to pass this produce on—times when the second man was unable tu fulfil his obligations. Generally speaking, however, lie merely bought on the clear basis already explained. Another tiling in connection with consignment to the British market was that all sales had to be made on a c.i.f. basis. The produce went Home ond it was only on arrival in London, that the buyers took over and paid against documents. This explained why dealings did not. always make returns as soon as was expected. Ou a good market, purchasers would take a. three to a. six months' supply, but always on a c.i.f. basis. Another point, which miynt be mentioned was '-be diversity of speed in the steamers which carried produce from New Zealand to tile Home Markets. Although these might leave at different limes, it often happened thai several ot them arrived in London ,at the same lime, resulting in Hi,, market being flooded, and consequent reduction in price. ! In regard 10 the fluctuation in price' in oven one shipment oi produce arriving on the London market, this was by the time spent in discharging, if. lor instance, a shipment- arrived on a faffing market, ami as was quite possible, ten days were spent in discharging, tihe first ol' the produce discharged would naturally bring a better price than the last to die consignment. On a rising maiket the reverse would naturally obtain.

The question of shipping was ont ui paramount importance to the | dairyingi industry. The litae might come when New iZealaiul produce could he taken to England in a line Of steamers uue.ii taking t/he same time lor the trip, 'llw present state oi al- ) luits which resulted at Umos in several shipments ai living at the same time was not a healthy one, and now that there was a tendency to make the industry an ali-the-yeur-rouud one, it was to he ihoped that better arrangements could lie made. 'there was no doubt that Ihe Continental kUpphers got much ot their advantage lrom the fact that they could bitpply the English market with regit I lar siiipuieuts. A thing wlhioh puzzled producers u> Uiig end considerably was the mp'u fluctuations oi puce on the lioine market. To understand this it was necessary 1.0 know sonrtthing 01 the system regulating ihe British murkei. There were in the dairy produce business at. Home several large concerns: these people did not buy their requirements lrom day to day, hut came on the market at certain times. When they did begin to huy 11 was generally a sighaiuo ihe smaller try to come on the mWkei also, and 11 moved op until a price was readied at which it. was no longer possible to make sales. Lack oi uemaiid would then send prices hack. Markets had changed considerably lrom pre-war' days, when a fluctuation 01 «s over a season was ahotu the limit. NOW a similar amount, was 1 sometimes experienced in a day. An this made marketing more difficult, j the whole tone ol the industry hemg now Uiat ol the stock exciwuge, instead ol as previously, simply a case ol supplying a normal demand tor produce. . . As lar as his own Association Was concerned, it had had hi common with other organisations, a pietty strenuous txme. This year he was pleased to say that they had managed 10 hold their own as lar as prices were concerned; with the best organised concerns in Britain. He was a firm believer in the co-operative system oi marketing: he did not hope that for some years his Association would get Wh'i" whole .61" tihe the counL ' %.!;">■ year the«Ksiness was Llc'ving-, and it served the very important purpose ol fixing definitely the standard ol price ruling on the British Trui vkpfc. From the which they s&tp able to obtain «jigobers in New Zealand to other concerns were able'to gauge exactly how they were being treated by the merchants at Home'.

What the future held for the dairying industry it would be unwise to prophesy. In regard to cheese he was of the opinion that the consumption in England was growing, while at the same time il seemed probable that Canada would find a market within hei own shores in the future for more I end more of her own produce. The I position on the English market which she vacated would be taken by New Zealand produce. He was greaMy I pleased with the quality of toe ■■*>*>* Zealand cheese which was arriving m England and the fact that the supplj was growing was also haying an_ 11fect No matter how high the quality was, it was necessary to lhave a large distribution in order to .properly advertise the country. The greater the advertisement the greater became the demand and in this connection an advertising campaign would be of value. His organisation had conducted one for some time with good results, and everything, including the visit of a New Zealand football tearo during' the coming year would tfe valuable. ' ' „^ c+nl Bef erring to the ports qi Bristol,

Manchester and Glasfow, Mr Ellison said that whilst it was desirable at times to send cerium shipments to these places, London, was the place at which the price ol produce was fixed lor the whole country, and in any ol tlie ports reierred to merchants expected to get produce at the price ruling in London. There was also more danger ol Hooding the market at these smaller places, and lie had Known shipments sent to these outlying ports having been alterwards transferred to London lor sale. The many causes which had led to London being the centie ol the industry were difficult to explain, but they were undefiiuble. .Moreover, the selling organisation was the result Of lojigi building up, and it was advisable not to Interfere with it too drastically until it w r as certain that a better one was found. The question of the development ol the dairying industry was one ol interest, Shortly before leaving England be had had an interview with the representative of a Russian firm, and it might surprise some of them to know, in view of the reports from | that country, that already kwge supI plies oi Russian butter was coming I on the English market. It was quite i probable ijhat before long, Russian butter would come into prominence. , Along the Baltic dairying" was being • developed rapidly with the assistance I of English capital, and "\yith the inj crease in Argentine and South African 1 supplies the'market might, go lower than of late unless a solution of the i r.uhr and other Continental troubles i were found, which would enable Eur- ] one to absorb, as under natural con- ' ditions, the bulk of the Danish and ! Dutch supply which was at present coining almost exclusively to Engv bind. For the present, however, he had no doubt that prices were safe, | and would continue so for some time to come. (Applause). "several questions were replied to satisfactorily and the meeting, concluded with hearty votes oi_ thanks to +he speaker and to the ciuur