asked the Minister for Agriculture if he will state what steps, if any, he has taken to control the price of butter in the home market and at what figure it is intended to fix the home price f.o.r.; further, whether the price fixed will be for all quantities or whether it will depend on the quantity ordered, and, if so, if he will state the different prices for the different quantities.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Butter Prices.
The only step taken by me to regulate the price of butter on the home market consists in the payment out of public funds of a subsidy not to exceed 31/- per cwt. on exports of creamery butter, provided that the export value of such butter, including bounty under the Dairy Produce (Price Stabilisation) Act and subsidy shall not be higher than 130/- per cwt. f.o.r. This arrangement was announced in the public Press on the 20th ultimo, and it is to be expected that producers will not sell on the home market at a price less than can be obtained in respect of exports.
A Committee has, I understand, been set up by producers of creamery butter to secure, as far as possible a uniform wholesale price on the home market. This Committee is entirely independent of the Department, but if authenticated cases of selling at less than the price indicated by the Committee were reported to me, I should have the matter taken up with the vendors concerned, assuming of course, that I was satisfied that the Committee's price recommendation was a reasonable one.
With regard to the latter part of the question I understand that, as is usual in practically every business, a higher price is chargeable for small lots sold to retailers than for wholesale quantities. This, however, is essentially a matter for the trade, and one that will settle itself according to circumstances.