THE BUTTER OUTLOOK

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 68, 11 September 1911, Page 5

THE BUTTER OUTLOOK

HOME BUYERS ACTIVE. THE SEASON'S PROSPECTS. A tour of the North Island dairying districts has just been concluded by Mr. A.D. Foley, of Foley Bros., London and 1 Sydney, produce merchants. In convenatio:i with n Wellington Times representative he lftd sonic interesting observations to make. '•I could never quite understand," he remarked, '"why Danish butter should command a higher figure on the London market than New Zealand, considering ' that New Zealand butter is manufactured under so much better climatic conditions. Yet we find that it is sold at from ffl to £lO per ton lte ss than Daoislk J am sure there cannot be so much difference between them when you see the two butters on the same floor at Home. People at Home admit that th» ' New Zealand butter has a better badly than Danish, and that it will stand longer in cold storage. My own view is that New Zealand butter is not handled as it should be, because the bulk of it is sent through houses or agents in London who have on their floors all classes of butter, ■' Danish and Siberian, as weil as New Zealand. Consequently the salesmen at,, . these establishment* don't push New " Zealand! as against their other lines Thus it comes into serious competition with these lines, and the salesman does not pay any particular attention to the New Zeaknd product. This is iu»t sold on its merits, lmt is not pushed. (My own view, from considerable ex- I perienee of the London market, is that •■* the Now Zealand people should trv to concentrate their shipments on those, houses that deal exclusively with colonial matter, and that are not interested in pushing the Danish or Siberian article. At the present time New Zealand butter is often sold as Danish at the higher figure; that is one of the tricks, of the trade amongst some retailers. It is easy to make the people believe that the butter comes out of » Danish cask. The retailer serv'es all masters, and he must ' • haw the butter—New Zealand, Danish, or Siberian. This season our own firm will' take 5000 tons of Australian, butter for the London market, and our intention is to come here. We have been able to secure several hundred tons of New Zealand butter on consignment to our London house from September to March next, anticipating an average price during the season of £l-20 a ton for this butter.

The present prospects in Australia are. rw>t too favorable for early shipments to London, as two of the principal States, New South Wales and Queensland, are very .backward, and both of these States are drawing supplies from Victoria. They will not have any butter of the new season's, make for export until the latter end of October. This is rather peculiar for Australia, which usually ships two months earlier than that."

Mr. Foley mentioned that about 5000 boxes of Australian butter were -landed in New Zealand during July and August! at Is and Is V s «l per lb., bearing 3d pw lb. Owtoms duty. This did not leave the distributors much of a margin here, but they had to buy the butter to keep the trade together. His firm fllone e»nit .1000 Australian boxes to the Dominion. On thf whole, ho regards the season's butter outlook for the producer as being exceedingly bright. * !