MARKETING FRUIT

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 16 January 1931, Page 5

MARKETING FRUIT

GREAT BRITAIN AND CONTINENT NEW ZEALAND REPRESENTATIVE’S IMPRESSIONS INTERVIEW WITH MR H. E. STEPHENS FORWARD DELIVERY SALES URGED Speaking to a “Mail” representative to-day Mr H. E. Stephens, of Stoke, who has been the New Zealand Fruit Control Board representative in Great Britain and on the Continent for the past three years, said lie had returned to New Zealand with the very strong conviction that in the marketing of Dominion fruit overseas every effort should be made to build up the forward sale business. Mr Stephens lias had the direction of sale of about a million eases of fruit each year he was away and he has spent the whole of the three years searching for avenues of sale and studying marketing conditions.

LOWER LEVEL OF PRICES There was no doubt, lie said, that the prospects both in England and on the Continent were not good. The consensus of well informed opinion was that the general lowering of values was not a temporary lowering. That fact, he thought, must be recognised by all. Until wages and other expenses came down, however, the producer who felt the depressed conditions first would be hard hit. It was the opinion of all careful observers that eventually a general lower level would be readied and that conditions would not be as unsatisfactory as some thought. FORWARD DELIVERY SALES Mr Stephens said he had brought back what he considered some wonderfully good offers to buy large quantities of New Zealand fruit on forward delivery. The Control Board, however, was not accepting these as it wanted to adopt a new plan of sending everything for the Continent on commission. One offer alone was for 120,000 cases at the average price c.i.f. Hamburg of 13s and payment plus exchange would have been received before the fruit left New Zealand. It would be a very profitable price for growers and the money would he received- three or four months sooner than by selling on commission. It was true that Australia had light crop prospects hut even with that lie did not think sales on commission would average out as good. Another point was that they would be sacrificing the Hamburg market, foi under the new scheme everything was to be landed at The Hook. They had been two years building up the Hamburg market which was not only the. market for Germany but for Scandinavia. As a matter of fact a lot of c.i.f. offers had been received from Scandinavia. One buyer in Sweden bid for 33,000 eases of apples and 17,000 cases of pears. His bid was c.i.f. Hamburg. It was, of course, possible to supply Scandinavia from The Hook buV'it.was not as satisfactory as buyers would not give as' much for fruit landed there.

Mr Stephens reiterated his conviction that a certain profitable price was better than taking risks. All the c.i.f. offers they had had would give growers good returns. The 120,000 cases mentioned above meant 10s f.o.b. Wellington. It should be possible to sell forward quantities up to perhaps half the available crop, and that was without Great Britain. They could sell forward there too. It was a striking fact that New Zealand was the only country depending q’n consignment. In some ways New Zealand had special advantages. Our fruit landed when brokers were having their slack season and they were in a position to pay more for our fruit than they would be at other time's in' order to keep their staff and money earning something. ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN *Mu Stephens said the big bulk of our fruit went into working class homes and the housewives, when they had the money to spend, were very exacting buyers. The habit of fruit-eating was increasing enormously, especially on the Continent. People were going in more for fruit and less for meat. And there was a campaign throughout the schools to get the children to eat more fruit than sweets. Much had also been done in the way of advertising. Between 500 and 000 schools competed in their essay competition. In addition they had done a great deal of advertising at leading exhibitions at London, Birmingham, Colchester, Manchester, Portsmouth, Belfast and Leicester. Some 30,000 samples of New Zealand apples had been sold at these exhibitions and the returns had practically covered the costs involved. Mr Stephens said liis daughter, Miss Jessie Stephens, who had accompanied him carried out the work at the exhibitions. An interesting feature was the number of inquiries made and it was obvious that when people realised Miss Stephens had come from New Zealand and a New Zealand orchard they were keen on obtaining definite first-hand information concerning the conditions under which New Zealand fruit was grown and packed. Mr Stephens said he could not help saying his daughter seemed to become very adept as a result of being a very enthusiastic New Zealander. Anyway it was very encouraging to find the interest so many people were taking in New Zealand. Many people expressed a desire of coming to the Dominion but they were not able to do so on account of being unable to sell their English properties. Some 30,000 posters and 00,000 price tickets and New Zealand labels had been distributed to various shops. New' Zealand House had given every assistance and the main window had been used for the opening display. Last season Miss Islibell MacDonald, daughter of the Prime Minister, was the guest of honour. Most of the fruit with one unfortunate exception, had arrived in very good condition and there were very few complaints. The newer types of vessels had been giving very satisfactory results. It was in the last half of the season that prices broke so disastrously. This was due to big quantities of apples from Australia, large supplies of soft fruits from England and the Continent and of course most from the general trade depression. Everything went down just at that time. IMPERIAL PREFERENCE Mr Stephens said there had been great disappointment over the failure

of the Imperial Conference. The trend of feeling in Great Britain was rapidly in the direction of Imperial preference and it appeared probable it would be the main factor at the next elections. Even hard-headed free-trade places like Manchester and Birmingham were thinking about preference. With warehouses full of Japanese cotton goods, mills shut down and workmen unemployed, this was not to be wondered at. RUSSIAN APPLES Another disturbing factor was the dumping of Russian wheat at cutthroat prices. Russia also put quite a quantity of apples on the English market. These were Krim apples from the Crimea. They were well packed and got up but were of poor quality. Tlie Russians were disorganising every trade they bumped into. They seemed to sell even at the cost of shipping only, in a desire to get cash at any price. The Cambridge low temperature research station, said Mr Stephens, was carrying on very valuable work, especially. on New Zealand apples. They had shown that the biggest losses after, the fruit had landed in England was caused by the fruit having previously been bruised. Bruising accounted for more than all the other troubles put together. A number of packing experiments were being carried out this year. Mr Stephens also referred to the wonderful results obtained at East Maling research station in connection with root stocks. An interesting feature of Mr Stephens’s absence from Nelson is that his orchard at Stoke has been managed by his daughter, Miss V. Stephens, for the past three years. Mr Stephens said he had been away so much that he felt it was only fair to give Miss Stephens an absolutely free hand. On his return he found that the orchard had been piped for spraying purposes, that in the older portion trees had been cut out and more suitable varieties grafted on, and, he must admit, many other improvements made. The yield throughout had been well maintained and Miss Stephens’s win in the overseas section of the Chelsea Horticultural Show against many competitors from ail parts had been very gratifying.