THE YEAR IN REVIEW

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 235, 23 December 1927, Page 12

THE YEAR IN REVIEW

MERCHANTS SITTING TIGHT ERRATIC DEMAND Business for the year in grain, seed, and produce circles closes with most markets steady at satisfactory levels. Merchants at the moment are, for the most part, content to sit tight till after the holidays before making any serious forward committments, and business is quiet with little to report. Looking backwards over the year one of the features has been provided byonions. which throughout, have proved a costly business for many operators. A heavy local crop saw that produce selling at a bedrock of £3 a ton on trucks at Pukekohe. and, even at that figure, only a slow demand was met with. Then, when trade was diverted to Victoria. m heavy harvest saw values slump on forward buyers from £7 T.o.b. Melbourne, to .£.» f.o.b. New Zealand buyers holding at the former figure were heavy losers. Again, with the Canadian crop, heavy losses were reported in many quarters, and onions costing in the vicinity of 17s and ISs a case to land, after picking over with a loss of up to 50 per cent., were quitted at as low as 14s. To-day, on the Auckland market, onions are selling through store at from about 10s to 17s, according to quality and the place of origin. The potato market over the year has also had its ups and downs, though not to the extent expected by Southern merchants. Northern buyers at no time placed much confidence in the predictions emanating from the South, which were aimed .It a rise in the market owing to the reported short crops and Australian inquiry. The Southern crop proved ample, and no sales were made to Aus-

One of the most spectacular movements in this market was registered in October, when the prices jumped from £4 a ton to £7 in the South. Again, when the season ended a few weeks later, it collapsed within a weoit from over £ll on the spot to slow sales at £7. To-day, a few parcels of old season’s tubers' are held with no market. New season’s potatoes are fairly steady with the farmer receiving about £lO a ton, and the price delivered through store in Auckland in the vicinity of 13s 6d a cwt. Business in maize throughout the period under review has been abnormal from the fact that the demand has been most erratic. It is estimated that smaller shipments wore drawn from Java than during most recent years, and the only shipment direct from South Africa came to hand in November and by now has practically all gone into consumption. At the moment the market is quiet with steady arrivals reported from the Bay of Plenty. Merchants are only trading from hand to mouth until after the Christmas vacation, and no revival can bo looked for until well toward the end of next month when, with the colder weather approaching, the demand will undoubtedly increase. . , _ At the moment the cereal is finding a quiet sale at from 5s 6d to 5s 9d on the wharf in wholesale lots. Importations of wheat over the year are reported to have been lighter than has been, the case for some time past, and there is every indication from the South that the new crop will be considerablv heavier this year. Added weight is given this contention by the increasing number of quotations coming to “ a , from Southern merchants regarding baled wheaten hay for spread delivery. Considerable annoyance is being given merchants as a result of the s l°wness yt the Customs Department in auuossmg. duties on imported wheat and no definite and satisfactory policy seems to ha\e been arrived at.