DAIRY PRODUCE.

Taranaki Daily News, 19 March 1920, Page 5

DAIRY PRODUCE.

NO PROPOSALS FOR NEXT SEASON. LONDON PRICES RAISED. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Wellington, March 17. The principal subject of comment among dairy produce merchants is the absence of any further indication' as to the proposals for next season. Since the Imperial Government inquired for producers' ideas of value in the event of an extension of purchase there has been no further communication from that quarter. The London maximum wholesale and retail prices for butter now stand at 2s 3d and 2s 8d respectively, to which they were raised in January on the ground that the increase was necessary owing to the falling off in shipments from cheaper sources of supply (including New Zealand) in order to enable the Food Ministry's operations in butter-fat to be conducted on a self-supporting basis. There continues to be a downward tendency in American butter quotations, and the latest market reports received here showed that the highest grade creamery in New York was selling at B2 to 63 cents (2s 7d). Cable news from Australia that dairy producers favored a Council of Control consisting of producers' representatives is of interest as showing the methods pursued in the transition from Government control to a free market. The general system has been to place butter required for winter use in a pool to which all producers contributed and in the proceeds of which all shared.