Weather, Crops, and Markets. Vol. 2, No. 6

Transcriber’s Note:
The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.
Published Weekly by the
United States Department of Agriculture
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A demand for American butter by English buyers had a materially strengthening effect on the early summer market in the United States. This generally unexpected export demand has called forth various explanations in the attempt to determine the probability of continued demand from that source.
An analysis of the international butter trade of the past 10 years indicates that a change not yet generally realized has taken place in the seasonal trend of imports of butter into the United Kingdom, which largely accounts for this demand in anticipation of an autumn shortage. This change is due to the shift that took place during the war in the sources of supply of that greatest of all butter-importing countries.
Prior to the war the United Kingdom obtained its butter supply from such widely scattered sources in both the Northern and the Southern Hemispheres that the supply was remarkably uniform from month to month throughout the year. During the war, when supplies available from continental Europe and Russia were reduced, Australia, New Zealand, and Argentina were encouraged to expand their dairy industry, and have together since that time continued as the most important sources of supply of butter on the British markets.
As the flush of production in Australia, New Zealand, and Argentina occurs during the fall and winter months when production is lightest in North America and Europe, England now receives an average of two-thirds of the total supply of foreign butter during the winter and spring, whereas formerly but one-half was received during this period.