Individual Types.
Home farm was the most expensive butter on the retail market
and packeted butters were generally dearer than bulk. Of the principal
bulk butters, the order of retail price throughout the country with
few exceptions was Danish, New Zealand, Irish, Australian. It is
interesting to note that with the exception of Irish butter the same
order applied to the number of shops stocking each type, and to the
volume of imports during the period of the enquiry. Danish, besides
being the dearest, was the most frequently stocked, and its imports
were largest; New Zealand was second and Australian third in
order of price, frequency, and volume of imports. This relationship
does not appear to apply to Irish butter. In the earlier months it was
the lowest of the principal butters in order of frequency and volume
of imports ; later it ranked second to Danish in these respects, but
throughout the enquiry its price was slightly lower than that of New
Zealand.
An interesting relationship can be observed between price differences
and differences in the percentages of shops stocking the various butters
throughout the areas. In the North, Danish was considerably dearer
than New Zealand, and was stocked in many more shops; in
Birmingham and Liverpool, it was slightly dearer, and was stocked in
a few more shops; in London, Bristol and South Wales, it was
slightly cheaper, and was stocked in fewer shops than New Zealand.
The same relationship applies to the difference between Australian
and Danish, and in the case of New Zealand and Australian it is
remarkably close.
In Manchester, Yorkshire and Scotland, the average price of
Danish butter was 14. higher than that of New Zealand ; in
Birmingham it was }d. higher, and in Liverpool slightly less; in
London, Bristol and South Wales it was about 4d. lower. The
average price of Australian butter was about 124. lower than that of
Danish in all areas except London, and Bristol and South Wales,
where it was about 2d. lower.
Farm. Butter —It has been noted that home farm butter was very
rarely encountered during the enquiry, but it was found in a few shops
in all areas except Manchester. The price varied widely, but in most
cases it was the dearest butter on sale. In the First Survey the most
usual price was 2s. per lb. and in the Second 2s. 24., but it was also
sold as a medium-priced and in some cases as a low-priced butter.
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