Commonwealth and Common Market: the dilemma of the New Zealand dairy industry

New Zealand's dairy industry has traditionally depended on the British market, but this is being threatened by recent economic and political changes. Increasing competition from margarine, the postwar upsurge of British dairying, and the price-support and trading policies of the Common Market countries and America have all combined to intensify the economic difficulties of regular dairy exporters and of New Zealand in particular. Continued access to the British market has become a crucial issue now that the United Kingdom has applied for entry to the EEC. New Zealand's efforts to expand her butter and cheese trade in other areas have been foiled by exclusion from the European and American markets and by the lack of demand elsewhere. Technological developments in dairy processing and preservation, however, have enabled a variety of new products, including skim-milk powder and casein, to penetrate other markets, especially in Japan, in South and Southeast Asia, and in the islands of the Indian and Pacific Oceans and the Caribbean. But despite diversification, the British outlet remains essential.