DAIRY PRODUCE.

Taranaki Daily News, 17 May 1921, Page 7

DAIRY PRODUCE.

VALUE OVER £16,000,000.

A GREAT PRIMARY INDUSTRY.

TARANAKI LEADS IN CHEESE.

The dairy produce season is usually taken to end on April 30, although, of course, limited production continues through the winter months. But, taking the ten months, August 1 to April 30, as “the dairy year,” it may be said that the period just closed has been the most remarkable as to monetary returns of any yet experienced in the history of dairying in New Zealand. The quantities of butter and cheese sent into the grading stores during the period under review, as compared with the corresponding ten months of 1920, have been as follow:

1920-21 1919-20 ewts. cwts. Butter .... 668,613 364,778 Cheese .... 1,059,183 1,135,958

Taking the butter at 280 s per cwt., the price at which the Imperial Government purchased—and that free-on-board steamers in New Zealand loading ports —there is a return of £9,360,582. This is more than the value of the wool that was exported during 1913, viz., £8,057,620. The cheese graded for export during the ten months ended April 30 last amounted in value at the conservative price of 13£d per pound to £6,672,852. The combined value of butter and cheese graded for export during the season just closed was therefore £16,033,434. It should be much more than that, as the cheese is taken at a rather low price, sales of outputs having been made early in the esason at over 14|d. OTHER PRODUCTS.

But that is not all. There have been exports of casein, glaxo, milk powder, sugar of milk, and other milk products of great value, all derivatures of the dairy. In addition, the value of butter consumed locally will have to be taken into account. That should be worth, at 2s per pound, approximately £4,900,000 per annum. There is also condensed milk.

The sale of exportable dairy produce last season was almost entirely to the Imperial Government. It was as follows: £ (Butter boxes, 551,071 ...... 2,420,297 Cheese crates, 884,248 ...... 6,285,027 Total . £8,705,324 But the prices of both butter and cheese for that particular period were 181 s per cwt and lOfd respectively, i.e., first grade in each case. The reduction in the quantity of cheese made this year is attributable to the greatly increased price at which butter was sold to the Imperial Government, and to the fact that that one big customer required no cheese. There was a free market for cheese. This was in accordance with the desire of large numbers of producers, who urged for free and untrammeled handling of their product; but some of them, when, it was definitely known that the Imperial Government was no longer a buyer of cheese, approached the 1920-21 market with trepidation. Their fears, as it proved, were unjustified. They obtained fully 2d to 2Jd, or more, per pound by selling or consigning.

A VALUABLE CONTRIBUTION.

It might be over-stating the case to say that with a depressed meat market and a collapsed wool market, butter and cheese saved the country. If this is not so, then there is no denying the fact that they ingratiated a strong element of stability to its finance. The prospects for such high returns as dairy produce has received during the past five years are not bright; but although the butter market has come back, prices are still very good, compared with pre-war rates. To-day, Danish butter is quoted at 194 s per cwt. In 1914 the London average for the twelve months was 125 s 2d per cwt, and New Zealand 116 s 3d. “Colonial” butter is to-day described by cablegrams as “still neglected.” Of course, the trade knows that there is a lot of such butter, bought at high rates, still on the British Government’s hands. The Danes also are perfectly well aware of the fact. Then there is the acute labor trouble at Home. That is mainly in the centres of large consumption of the highest grade butter. This trouble, it is to be devoutly hoped, will pass. Then a revival of prices, at any rate of stability, may be looked for. Although the New Zealand producer next season may not receive as high as 2s 6d per pound for his butter, he is likely to make remunerative sales. The prospects for cheese appear to be brighter than for butter; but one never cau tell. In any case, new season’s butter rom this country will not be reaching Great Britain before the winter thpj-ft has begun. a curious psychical feature of the cheese market is the influence of color over nrice. Color in cheese is purely a matter of taste. It does not add to the nutritive value of the article, nor take anything from it; yet, according to a recent cablegram from London, white New Zealand cheese (which is sought after by many people, sometimes at a premium) is bringing 1383* to 140 s per cwt, while colored is realising nearly 2d per pound more. In the production of dairy produce Auckland easily leads the Dominion as to butter, and Taranaki is at the head in the production of cheese. Wellington ic second to Taranaki in cheese, and Auckland third.—Wellington Post.