PRICE OF BUTTER.

Taranaki Daily News, 10 November 1921, Page 8

PRICE OF BUTTER.

WAR IN CHRISTCHURCH. There is war to the knife among butter factories, wrote the Christchurch correspondent of the New Zealand Herald on Friday. Three ultimatums were issued this week. The latest sent out this morning puts the wholesale price of first-grade Canterbury butter down to Is 6Ad a pound, one penny cheaper than it was two days ago. Under bombshells of this kind the retail shops preserve a steady front. They pass on the drop and tell customers the. good news. The retailers’ communique says: “North Island butter, Is 8d; Canterbury butter, Is 9d.” At any moment this list may be torn up. It all depends. As a matter of fact there are two ‘ wars”—while factory fights factory retail shop fights retail shop. Everyone is making a bid for ■ new customers, and no grocer goes to bed without planning a further phase of the price-cutting campaign for next day. This minute it is butter, the next it may be candles, and after that even bacon may take a turn for the worse (or better). Secret diplomacy cannot hide the cause of the butter decline. There is one factory too many, and peace will not be declared until someone goes out. Hostilities broke out when a new factory started and began advertising its wares. The other factories cut rates. The new arrival replied, and so on, until the battle developed with the advantage going first to one side and then to the other. The last move comes from the older firms. They are forcing the pace.