Commonwealth and Common Market: The Dilemma of the New Zealand Dairy Industry

Abstract

NCE again decisions are being made about the pattern of Europe's economic future, and once again New Zealand is bracing for a possible shock. Despite 12,000 miles of intervening sea, the economy of the Antipodes is closely interwoven with that of Britain, and not least in the matter of dairying. Although a drive for diversification has reduced the share of exports to the British market from 66 percent in 1950 to 39 percent in 1969,I the fact remains that 86 percent of New Zealand's butter and 78 percent of its cheese are destined for the United Kingdom, and dairy exports generate a quarter of the vital overseas funds. This basic circumstance is clearly reflected in the cartographic pattern of New Zealand's dairy trade (Fig. i). Although no map that generalizes the statistical ups and downs of five rather hectic years can incorporate all the relevant data, it does express the essence of the problem at the time when Britain first pressed to enter the Common Market. There were modest sales in countries along the Asian arc from Japan to India, in the United States, and in the Caribbean, but only Britain took much in the way of butter and cheese, the pivotal items for New Zealand. Lesser products such as skim-milk powder and casein might find sales elsewhere, but it was creameries and cheese factories that put the butter on New Zealand's bread.