BUTTER BOOMS IN AMERICA.

Shannon News, 8 January 1926, Page 3

BUTTER BOOMS IN AMERICA.

' BIUT SLUMPS IN DOMINION.. DANISH PRODUCE ON THE SPOT. NEW ZEALAND ARTrGLE MISSJN&. (Palmerston Times*. J " . While butter-fat prices in New Zealand have.' slumped to Is 4d per lb, thev have jumped to 3s on the Piacific coast of the United States., and with no immediate prospect of a reduction. Danish, butter ,was on sale in Seattle wihen Mr Herman Sejlert was there recently, and naturalfy he wants to know why the Dairy Gontrol Board •' cannot land New Zeialand butter on the Pacific seaboard as cheaply at, Danish can be shipped over the Atlantic and railed across the Continent. In the following article Mr Seifert asks some pertinent questions concerning the Control Board's neglect of the, American markets. "New Zealand," says Mr Seifert, who has just returned from a World tour, "is much interested in the price of butter, being one of the largest exporters in the World, and the gen- , eral prosperity of "the country depending, to a great extent, on receiving a , payable price for its products. The i average price received by the dairy farmer "during the past five years can- , not be considered a payable one. The dairy farmer in New Zealand is, without doubt, the ,'wohst paid'of any .worker in New Zealand, and it looks as if he, with" his wife and family, must continue to put in'long hours of labour for a • mere existence—it certainly cannot be considered a living. ." '.■"'' .. "This country has set up a Daio Control BOard to look after the dairyman's interests and to see that he. gets the best prices obtainable for his butter. Some of the. dairy-farmers' hard-earned money jhas been spent in sending delegations round the world to get first-hand information so that the dairyman might get better returns for his labour and capital. When I left London,, about three months ago, a second delegation had arrived there at the i expense of the dairy farmer, I suppose, to look still deeper into butter prices, With a view to assisting the hard-working cowspanker to earn a decent living. : j "It does not look as if they have | met with much success as on my landing back home I found that our butter market had collapsed and factories were paying out round abou 4 1/4 per lb. for butter-fat. "This came as a great surprise to me, because when I left the United States, the butter market was booming, and there was not the slightest indication of a setback in price. As I only left there on the 2nd. of December, i if seems strange that some of our butter lias not been sent there to relieve the Ixuidon market. "When t was in Seattle last October, I saw Danish butter ad- > vertised for sale, but not a single pound of New Zealand was in eight. Where is the Control Board? "It may well be asked, what is our Control Board doing? .What is wrong with our butter?. .What is wrong with our system of marketing?. .There must be. something wrong somewhere if Danish y butter can find a profitable market on the Pacific - seaboard of ''■ the United 'States, and we, with a direct subsidised. steamer service to Sam Francisco and Vancouver cannot find a market there • at all. i "" : '- ( Dairyman's Rich Harvest. "I was in Bakersfield, California, on 11th. November "last, and this is v(hat I read in the Bakersfield "Evening Echo":- — "Kern County s dairymen are reaping a rich harvest in boom times — Europe buys more butter as rehabilitation work is having effect in world's price."

"Butter prices in Bakersfield, Ke,rn County, California, _ markets were quoted at 65 and 66' dents (2/8£ and 2/9) per pound on the 10th. of Nov. last. 6 "The Bakersfield Echo stated on 11th, Novj that: "Butter prices were , skyrocketing, and have reached the highest prices since the war. The housewife has been dazed by the rapid advance of butter prices from day to day and many enquiries have been made as to just why the high prices. •\ "In response to an enquiry, Mr •Albert S. Goode, of the Kern County Creamery, stated yesterday that butter fat prices had advanced to 57 '! cents (2/41) in the Los Angeles market, and lpcal creameries are paying premium to obtain the product. "Dairymen are reaping a rich harvest as a result and prices of butterfat range from 69 to 72 cents (2/101 to 3/-) locally. Demand for Dairy Products.

•In Bakersfield it was announced the Kern County Creamery Company is buying raw milk on the basis of 15 cents (71ci) a pound premium above the Lqs Angeles market for butter-fat content. This makes a price of 72 cents (3/-) a pound in Bakersfield with the Los Angeles market price at 57 cents (2/4J). "The Wasco Creamery Company announced on advance last «veek to 69 cents'(2/10D a pound, 12 cents premium over the Los Angeles price for butter-fat content. ,"Just how long the high prices will prevail we cannot say," stated Mr Albert S. Goode. He said the world conditions have in part influenced the prices in the United States. Europe, with increased buying power is taking more milk products than at any time since the war. This is eliminating the surplus in New Zealand and Australia, and stiffening the American market. ;

From the remarks made by Mr Goode, said Mr Seifert. it certainly ■■ does not look as if any New Zealand butter is finding its way to the Cali-

fcrnian market. Judging by the payouts by butter factories in New Zealand, it looks as iff all our product is being dumped oh to the London market to help further to depress the wretched earnings of the New Zealand dairyman. Why Not? "Why can we not send butter to the Pacific coast cities of America ? If I remember rightly the duty is about 5d per lb., and the shipping anl other charges are certainly no more than they are to the London market. If that is the case there would certainly be a handsome margin. Even if the butter were sold at the, sama price as the London market, the pro ' ducer would benefit, because the re» lief thus afforded would prevent the disastrous dumping of butter in London which has meant the loss of so many thousands of pounds this year. Educate Britain. "In the New Zealand Dairyman, dated October 25, page 50, in an article, "HowTooley Street Views Pools and Control," I noticed the following being a quotation from a recent London writer:—"The general consensus of opinion here is that the pool will not come into existence, or if it does it will be under modified conditions. The Government has recently formed a Standing Order Committee to prevent any rise in the price of foodstuffs'. So you will see that the Government and the Nation are united in their intention to have cheap food." "There may, or there may not be anything in the London writer's contention," added Mr Seifert, "but it is up to the Dairy Control Board to take the producers into their confidence . and let them know the true cause of the fall in the price of butter and what steps have been taken to open [ other markets in addition to, Great i Britain.

"It is also, surely up to the Board to let the people of Great Britain know the cost of production in New Zealand and not let them get away with the idea that they are being exploited. It seems to me that up to the present most of the Board's utterances would lead the British consumers to think that we are out to exploit them. If the Board does not know what the cost of producing butter is in New Zealand it is time they took steps to find out. Money spent in that way would do much more good to the dairy farmer than "doing Europe'."