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Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 193, 10 May 1919, Page 10

The high prices being paid for tea in the Home marktls are affecting the.position locally, and, while as a number of retailers have notified customers of a lii'ulxible rise in prices, wholesale raerihants soy that irom the infonnation they have they tan only regard the position generally as one of. great uncertainty, says the Auckland "Herald." Litest advices show that London is oii'liding tea to the Continent under reir.riction, the prices being paid ranging from Is. Gil. to 2s. (Id. a pound. It is considered that if the whole embargo is lifted and Europe is supplied with her full requirements the market will harden considerably. Despite restrictions on shipping, a great deal of tea is held in England, but the finer and fresher toa of the new crops is needed for blending, with this tea, and the craps ri India, at least, will not be ready until this month. "Russia is said to be operating to a small (•stent in the East, shipping through Vladivostok, some credit apparently having been found. Should sho come into Ihe market to any extent her vast re(liiiiements would ensure a continuance of high prices. Local stocks of filler quality Ceylon teas are low, owing to Ihere having been 110 ships from Ceylon for ilit! last six weeks, and shipments now on the water are anxiously, awaited.