HEMP EXPORT TRADE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 2420, 22 April 1922, Page 3

HEMP EXPORT TRADE.

IS THE GRADING ALL IT SHOULD BE? ■ For .some tiine past the price of ■') New Zealand flax has been unsatis- — "l factory to-millers and merchants, k 1 andj apparently, to buyers, also, 2\,judging by their reluctance to do business (says pur Palmerston morning contemporary). To-day i merchants’ prices for exports are . approximately £24 10s per ton for good fair grade, £22 10s for high fair, and £2O for low. . There was a

spirit in the market a few days ago, •i. when high fail" was worth £25, but r; that was due to the limited Austra-

lian demand, now fully satisfied.

LondOn market now dominates the position. The position of flax as one .i* of the important export items of New Zealand produce has for some A time past given the Department of

Agriculture concern. The Depart- ( rnent regards the prospects of the o industry as “serious.” New Zealand hemp, it has found, is now held in - rather low repute by overseas buyers and manufacturers of fibres. It is' .alleged by them that the quality of the hemp is erratic; and, further, that the price of the fibre has not been lowered, as that of other fibres in order to meet altered' market and "industrial conditions. Sisal and Manilla prices have been reduced, but, it seems, those Zealand fibre are still too high. It has been further! charged against New Zea-

, land hemp that - the pi'esent system 9f grading no longer gives satisfaction, is not so efficient as formerly. The “points” system of grading is ■ said by buyers to be no longer acceptable to them. In order to obtain further light on the subject, and to set at rest if possible any doubts about the efficiency of. the grading, a conference of those interested in the hemirTindustry, millers, merchants, and others, has been called for next month. It' will be held in Wellington. i •: '

Referring to the forthcoming hemp conference, the Wellington Post says editorially:— “A conference of those interested in the hemp industry has been, convened (date; May) by the Department of Agriculture, which stat-

es in a circular, that the industry is 1 suffering because its oversea eustor tomers are showing a preference for

certain competitive fibres. When a customer prefers the goods' pf a 'rival, the fact indicates that the rival’s article is either cheaper, or better, or : both. An element in quality is grading, and the Department, in a circular, suggests, though it (lops not assert, that the grading may be .capable of being improved so that the markking of the hemp may be' motfe attractive and eonvenieritfto. buyers.- Though the De-1, p-artment specifies grading— : a matter.in which it is directly concerned . —it"is silent, for obvious reasons, on the general economic aspect' of the industry. According to a report of the National - Mortgage Agency Company, ? .hemp, like so many other products, is slow of sale ■ because of'the big gap between producers who take their stand on cost of production (labour, transport, royalty, etc.) and customers, who stand upon purchasing power in a world of limited credit. The Jnst

word, of corirse, ; is with purchasing

power.. • Labour cost must come ‘ down, or there will be less work; transport cost must come down, or there will be , less transport; and profits arid royalties will have to make some compromise. To a certain extent those lando.wners who

have the option of dairying may in- - sist on their royalty, .but they nor anyone else can maintain for hemp prices that have become uneconomic, and which are automatically acting as their own extinguisher.