AGRICULTURAL COOPERATION IN DENMARK. 29 
of Danish butter now go through the British butter import mer- 
chants. 
BRITISH BUYERS IN DENMARK. 
The English Consumers' Cooperative Wholesale Society, Man- 
chester, which has been buying butter in Denmark for over 40 years, 
is among the largest buyers of butter in Denmark. It has estab- 
lished its own purchasing depots in five Danish ports, with its own 
representatives, who purchase directly from the creameries. These 
purchases are usually handled on a contract agreement whereby the 
creamery agrees to deliver its weekly butter production for a definite 
period (three to six months, or a year) to the Consumers' Wholesale 
Society. The price arrangement is based on the weekly Copenhagen 
butter quotation as the minimum price, and usually an " overprice " 
is paid. The distribution is direct, as the bulk of the society's pur- 
chases is shipped direct from the collecting depots in Denmark to 
the local consumers' retail stores in England. Here we have inter- 
national cooperative trade in which the consumers' cooperative enter- 
prise engages in the marketing by going direct to the producer's 
cooperative plant. 
Another large British wholesale buyer of Danish butter with its 
own purchasing depots in Denmark is a joint-stock company. This 
firm distributes its purchases of Danish butter through its own chain 
of hundreds of retail stores in Great Britain. In normal times, 
approximately one-third of the Danish butter export is handled by 
these two large buyers. Other smaller British companies have 
depots and buyers in Denmark. 
DANISH BUTTER EXPORTERS. 
Private butter merchants constitute the third group through 
which Danish butter is sold. 'Wherever possible they buy direct 
from the creameries and enter into the butter trade both in Den- 
mark and on foreign markets. This group, together with the 
smaller British buyers in Denmark, handles about one-third of the 
Danish butter export. 
PRICES. 
The price paid the creamery for its butter, whether delivered to 
the cooperative butter export association or purchased by the British 
buyers or by Danish butter merchants, is always based on the Copen- 
hagen butter quotation, which serves as a basis for paying the cream- 
eries and indicates what the foreign buyers must pay. In pre-war 
days, Danish butter was sold to British buyers the first part of each 
week on a price basis " subject to " the coming Thursday's Copen- 
hagen butter quotation. 
The Copenhagen butter quotation is fixed each Thursday at 2 p. m. 
Two committees, one of producers and one of butter merchants, meet 
and either agree or compromise on a price. Basis for this quotation 
is reached by checking the actual price which Danish butter has 
reached on foreign markets. The accuracy of this quotation is sup- 
ported to a high degree by the wide knowledge which the two 
committees have of the immediate demand. When issued, it is 
immediately given wide publicity in Denmark, the United Kingdom, 
