BUTTER MARKETING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 May 1938, Page 3

BUTTER MARKETING

CRITICISM OF GOVERNMENT SCHEME

Regarding the control of the local marketing of butter, the annual report of the South Island Dairy Association says the scheme has many advantages to the industry insofar as it has put a stop to the price-cutting methods that formerly existed and permits sales only within the area in which the factory operates. “One feature of the scheme of considerable importance to the industry that we take strong exception to,” the report adds, “is that the price is fixed on the basis of the guaranteed price for export. That price is today far below the actual export value of the butter . . . Under the present system the producer is compelled to accept, on the highly-protected and costly New Zealand market, a price for his product that is less than the price at which it is sold on the cheapest market in the world. Why the dairy farmer should be singled out for such grossly unfair treatment we do not know. We cannot subscribe to the view that the price of butter in New Zealand should be governed by export parity. We consider the same principles should apply as operate on the prices of other commodities manufactured and sold in the Dominion. Would the local boot manufacturers, for example, be willing to accept the same price for their products in New Zealand that they would receive if the products were exported and sold on the British market? If there was no exportable surplus of butter there could be no suggestion that the price should be governed by London parity. In Australia this is understood and recognised and the dairyfarmers receive a substantial measure of protection through the local market against the economic loss which they suffer by producing for export.”