176 



French Dairy Industry. 



had fallen to 36,000 cwts. in 1897); but the greater part of 

 this was not of French origin. The French trade returns 

 for 1896 show that just about one-quarter of their exports to 

 this country were in that year of home production, cheese 

 from Switzerland, Italy, and Holland bulking largely in the 

 transit trade, although these returns do not indicate what 

 proportion each of these countries contributed to the British 

 supply. Nor is Great Britain by any means so preponderant 

 a factor in the export trade of this commodity as in the case 

 of butter, most of the home-made cheese exported going to 

 Algeria and Belgium, while Germany also takes as much as 

 Great Britain. 



If 1892 may be taken as a year of average consumption, 

 the relative importance of butter and cheese to the 

 French consumer may be gauged approximately by adding 

 the imports of these commodities to, and subtracting the 

 exports from, the production of that year. By this method 

 we arrive at the following results in the year named : — 



Butter : Production, 2,593,300 cwts. ; imports for con- 

 sumption, 107,672 cwts. ; exports of home produce, 690,237 

 cwts.; consumption, 2,010,735 cwts. 



Cheese : Production, 2,684,280 cwts. ; imports for con- 

 sumption, 243,280 cwts. ; exports of home produce, 

 131,826 cwts.; consumption, 2,795,722 cwts. 



As already noted, the production of cheese is understated, 

 while it is probable that the same remark may apply to the 

 butter ; but, accepting these figures as accurate, we obtain a 

 total consumption per head (assuming a total population of 

 38,000,000) in the year 1892 of 5.9 lbs. of butter and 8-2 lbs. 

 of cheese. 



As regards the magnitude of the dairy industry in France, 

 estimated in money, the total production of milk, at yd. per 

 g'allon, is calculated to be worth ^48,921,020. The gross 

 value of the entire production of butter at 9jd. per lb. 

 is put at 1,802,840, and the cheese at a total of 7^5, 129, 880, 

 or an average of all sorts of 4d. per lb. The total annual value 

 of the two manufactured milk products is thus 16,93 2, 7 20. 



