WELLINGTON EGG MARKET.

Shannon News, 8 September 1922, Page 3

WELLINGTON EGG MARKET.

j COMPETITION BREAKS PRICES,

Very heavy supplies Of, eggs are now reaching Wellington, and prices have in c\ c sequence receded, the wholesale pios being 1/%, to 1/3 and the retail prices 1/3 to 1/4. Some retailers are selling at practically the wholesale price. The market is supplied ironi Manawatu and Rangitikei, and the eggs coming in from these districts ai e handled by the wholesale distributing firms. Then there is the Wellington Poultry Farmers’ Association handling eggs for certain sections of poultrymen, and there is the New Zealand Poultry Co-opera-tive Association. This latter Jiandles eggs from the Canterbury district. Eggs from Nelson are mainly consigned to a private firm, and distributed amongst bakers. The competition is chiefly between the wholesale distributing houses and the, Poultry Farmers’ Association. Efforts were made recently to arrange lor some means of fixing prices, but the negotiations fell through because there was a fear that Christchurch would undersell the distributing houses. Ttiere is thus very keen competition with supplies practically in excess of the demand. Bakers Who usually buy heavily at this time of the year lor preserving, are not operating to any extent in the belief that eggs will be very much cheaper than they are at the present time. The statement published on Saturday on the authority of the New Zealand Poultry Co-operative, Ltd., that the prica of eggs is 1/4 aiid 1/5 a dozen wholesale, store eggs Id a dozen cheaper, is contradicted locally. One of the largest distributing firms states that eggs are being retailed as low as 1/2, and to talk of 1/4 and 1/5 wholesale is in the circumstances misleading. The wholesale price for the past week has been 1/2 and 1/3, which is stated to be the price at which the Canterbury egg circles were quoted in Christchurch by Messrs Harris Bros.