GUARANTEED PRICE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 200, 24 July 1937, Page 16

GUARANTEED PRICE.

CONDITIONS IN ENGLAND DISCUSSED.

CHRISTCHURCH, July 22. “The marketing of New Zealand dairy produce in jlngland by the Government dairy sales division lias worked out very well indeed, and the general conducting of the business in the marketing and in controlling the release of goods from the steamers is certainly to the advantage of the distributing industry generally,” said Mr Frank R. Ellison, London manager of the National Dairy Association of New Zealand, Ltd., in an interview. The association buys goods in England and Europe for New Zealand dairy farmers, but Mr Ellison has also taken a close interest in the marketing of New Zealand dairy produce and last year he did relieving work for his faJLlver, Mr R, Ellison, managing director of the New Zealand Produce Association in London-, while the latter was visiting the Dominion.

“The trade in England was verv much concerned as to what would happen under the guaranteed price scheme,” he said, “and was anxious to learn whether any attempt would be made to control or fix prices. It has now been discovered that there will be no repetition of the disastrous price-fixing attempt of 192 G. Everything is working smoothly. The Government’s actions in endeavouring to eliminate large fluctuations of price are in the interests of the distributing trade, which is thus enabled to secure teh reasonable margin of profit to which it is entitled. “The trade can now come to some conclusion as to what the market is likely to do, and the conclusions are proved to be true, as was often not the case previously. The market is keeping on a more even keel, and fluctuates in keeping with the rise and fall of consumption. In fact, the law of supply and demand is beginning to operate in the industry for the first time for many years. A great deal of speculation has been stopped by the elimination of f.o.b. Mr Ellison said that during the last 10 vears New Zealand butter, of which the output had been doubled, and which now constitued practically one third of the total amount consumed by the British market, had made big inroads into the midlands and north, tlio strongholds of butter from the Baltic countries. Denmark, Finland, Sweden. Latvia. Estonia and Lithuania. Siberian butter had not been an important factor, but last year the imports were 25,000 toils instead of about 15,000. But the increase in the sales of iNew Zealand butter had not been so much at the expense of other countries as, because of the increased consumption which had arisen from lower prices.