BUTTER v. CHEESE.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 December 1920, Page 5

BUTTER v. CHEESE.

SHORT SELLERS DEPRESS MARKET In a circular letter to dairy factories. Mr. T. 0. Brash, of the N.D.A.. who Jias recently visited England, says: The writer can well imagine the anxiety of the directors and suppliers of cheese companies at the present, at least those wlio are shipping on open consignment. On August 28th the writer cabled the office as follows: better proposition than cheese; casein prospects good.' Whilst we had no idea that the fall in price would arrive so early butter certainly .looked a better proposition than cheese. We find ourselves wishing that the dairy companies wherever possible had decideed to commence butter-making at the earliest possible moment. We certainly anticipated that the early cheese shipment would meet with a fairly good market, as it was expected that tile Government stocks of cheese would be cleared out by the end of February, and thus leave the market bare of all cheese for some months, except the New Zealand arrivals. Latest, information indicates that the Government cheese will not now be cleared until much later, depending, of course, upon the consumptive demand. There has undoubtedly been a very large quantity of cheese sold "short," in .other words cheese was sold which had never been bought, and that with a view to-buying at a much lower figure before the date of delivery. Naturally the short sellers were interested only in depressing the market. This, along with the'uneasiness regarding finance all over the word, has to some extent been responsible for the fall in prices. Looking at statistics we find that the total import of cheese intd the United Kingdom has not varied to any great extent during the last ten years. In 1911 it was 121,464 tons, and for the twelve months ending June 30, 1920, it was 133,000 tons, with'.only slight variations in the intervening years. Canada s export of cheese to Great Britain over that period has decreased by half, such shortage having been more than made up by the increase from New Zealand. The purchasing power of the consumer in the United Kingdom is undoubtedly much greater than prior the war and theie is no reason to expect that cheese prices will touch a low figure if given a reasonable opportunity of making the market price. Everything, however, points to butter bringing a better return than cheese. In 1911 the import of butter into the United Kingdom totalled 2-22,000 tons, in the year ending .Tune 30, 1920, SO.OOO tons. To a great extent, this was due to a world shortage accentuated by the Food Control in Great Britain, such control being responsible for driving large quantities of Danish and Dutch butter to other markets. It looks as if it were going to be advisable for those who have not already dual plants to immediately instal such plants wherever conditions are such as make it possible. Whilst on this question the writer would mention the importance of immediately j considering the ordering of supplies. The wise and certainly the most economical policy is for companies who have dual plants to aim at carrying in stock one year's supplies for the manufacture of either butter or cheese. With the disorganisation of the food supplies of the world and the possibility of financial difficulties dairy companies may wish to change from butter to cheese or vice \ersa at short notice. This is only possible on a large scale with the necessary supplies in stock at the factories,