BUTTER MARKET WEAK

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 905, 24 February 1930, Page 10

BUTTER MARKET WEAK

LOWEST FOR SOME YEARS SPECULATORS NOT BUYING Week-end quotations from the London butter market are the lowest for February since 1921. The market at Home appears particularly depressed at the moment. During control in October of 1926 old stocks of butter were thrown on the market and New Zealand butter sold down as low as 130 s; it recovered toward the close of the year, but around the time of the lifting of control in March, it had dropped to within the vicinity of today’s market; it improved within a week or so, however. New Zealand’s worst season in recent years, from the point of view of low prices, was 1922, when in January the market in London slumped to see sales at aroLind 1275; within six months it had made a sensational recovery to 2305. Lack of confidence among the speculative interests, and a general decline in the purchasing power of the British consumer are the two principal reasons advanced by exporters to account for the present position at Home. Although stocks held in London may be a little heavier than at this time last year, when the market touched 189 s before falling steadily to 163 s in April, they are not considered to be abnormally heavy. The reaction from the recent financial crises, such as the Hatry disaster, are also considered to be having a bearing influence on the position.