HEAVY SEED BUSINESS

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 293, 2 March 1928, Page 12

HEAVY SEED BUSINESS

PRODUCE MARKET REVIEW GOOD POTATOES SCARCE A rush for deliveries of grass and clover seeds has caused most comment in grain, seed and produce circles over the week. Following the rains farmers were able to plan ahead and most merchants received heavy orders for immediate sowing. Fair stocks of imported seeds are held, and New Zealand seeds are coming forward in sufficient Quantities to meet the demand. Up to the present the supply has exceeded the demand and there has been no advance in prices. Following up the demand for seeds, fertilisers have also met wiith an increased sale, superphosphates; especially' selling freely. A big shipment of basic slag came to a hungry market, and the bulk of it went into immediate consumption. Another shipment is scheduled to arrive next week* and, as it has all been sold to arrive, ifiost of it will also go into immediate consumption. Good potatoes are scarce at the moment. A number of merchants relying on shipments from the South, have been left lamenting owing to limited arrivals and supplies are still being drawn from Rangitikei. Local tubers, though still available, are of very poor quality, and are being passed over by most merchants. Rangitikei potatoes are quoted at from 12s to 13? through stores, while Southern tubers sell around 13s a cwt on the same basis. Supplies are likely to continue restricted until Canterbury can satisfy all requirements. Onions continue firmly held and quotations through store stand about 13s. The oat market remains fairly steady with B gartons quoted at 4s 6d through store and A’s 3d dearer. Arrivals of maize during the week have been light, but the demand at the moment is slack and the market has not been allowed to advance beyond 6s on the Auckland wharf. Attempts to sell on a basis of 6s 2d or even 6s Id early in the week following the announcement of the advance in the freight rates from Gisborne met with little success, and it seems that, if there is to be any loss, for the time being it will be at the Gisborne end, where f.o.b. values will have to fall. Ample supplies of wheat are coming to hand from the South and meeting with a steady sale at 7s 9d through store with every indication that prices will recede a further 2d or 3d by the end of the month. Regular arrivals of chaff from the South meet with a steady demand at £9 10s through store. Local mills advanced the price of both bran and pollard yesterday to £8 and £9 10s a ton respectively. Both products continue to meet with a steady demand. NEW USES FOR COAL BIG HUTT VALLEY SCHEME (From Our Own Correspondent) WELLINGTON, Thursday. A proposal is on foot to establish works in the Hutt Valley, Wellington, for the extraction of by-products from jcoal, including the manufacture of smokeless fuel. Such industries are already run on profitable lines in other countries, and now New Zealand is ready to go ahead, and draw on her ample coalfields for something more than the actual coal itself. Of particular interest to the Hutt Valley is the fact that the present supply of gas in the district is little more than adequate for present-day needs, and that the proposed company will be able to meet all its future requirements in this direction. Those interested in the proposed company have a thorough knowledge of both the coal trade and the manufacture of gas, and the establishment of such works will be a decided impetus not only to the Hutt Valley and Wellington, but to the Dominion as a whole.