EFFECT OF DROUGHT

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19722, 13 December 1926, Page 9

EFFECT OF DROUGHT

SHORTAGE OF HOTTER NEW SOUTH WALES’ PREDICAMENT. SUBSTANTIAL INCREASE IN PRICE Received Dec. 12, 5.5 p.m. SYDNEY, Dec. 12. As a result of the drought, the price of butter will be increased to-morrow by l|d a pound, bringing the wholesale price to 19|d. It is reported that heavy purchases of New Zealand butter for the Sydney market were made with a view to the present shortage. PLENTY FOR REQUIREMENTS NO NEED FOR IMPORTATION. CONTROL BOARD ALARMED. MELBOURNE, Dec. 11. Members of the Dairy Produce Control Board and the Stabilisation Committee view with concern the probability of further importations into Australia of New Zealand butter. It has been learned that merchants and speculators in Sydney are making purchases of New Zealand butter for immediate and forward delivery. It is stated that while drought conditions prevail in Queensland and parts of New South Wales and Victoria, production is practically normal, and there is a total surplus in Australia of more than 40,000 cases a week. This is mainly Victorian, and will be available for other States. Importing from New Zealand will have the effect of disorganising the Australian market and reducing the price for the dairy farmers.

The Stabilisation Committee has decided to call a meeting of wholesale distributors in Sydney and Brisbane with the object of pointing out to them that there is sufficient butter in Australia to meet the requirements of the Commonwealth.

A meeting of Melbourne distributors resolved that the importation of New Zealand butter was unnecessary and prejudicial to the interests of producers in Australia.