Trade in Produce

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 387, 22 June 1928, Page 12

Trade in Produce

THE WEEK REVIEWED POTATO STOCKS SHORT Juno 22, 9 a.m. Potatoes have caused merchants greatest concern over the week. The market has registered a sharp advance. The onion market is also decidedly firmer. YX7ET weather in the South prevent- * ’ ing digging has had the effect of tightening up stocks available for shipment. The result has been that it has been impossible over the past 10 days to get normal supplies away to the North. The Wingatui to-day has been the only produce boat to arrive in Auckland this week. The vessel has brought approximately 3,000 sacks of tubers, sufficient in normal times for three days’ consumption. The Waipi - uta early next week brings little more Luckily for the Auckland market storekeepers were fairly well stocked up following the heavy shipments of. little more than 10 days ago and have not been forced to operate heavily on available stocks. Sharp Advance in Potatoes As it is, the market lias appreciated almost 30s a ton to see the tubers going out of store at from £8 15s to £9 a ton. Prices in the city marts are slightly easier, but an early advance is expected here. Bad weather in the South has had the effect of tightening up the market down there, and values moved forward sharply for a day or so and have only eased slightly at the moment. Present quotations in the South indicate that little easing in present spot quotations can bo looked for in the near future. What the future will bring is hard to forecast. There are a large number of operators in the South who would forecast a shortage of supplies and higher prices in the future, but this talk is contradicted by others further back in the country districts who state that ample supplies are available and that the farmers are merely holding for better money. Onions in Short Compass Stocks of onions are getting into a very short compass and the market has gone up another £2 a ton over the week. Merchants are now compelled to pick up supplies wherever they can. Only very limited stocks of Pukekohe onions are left, while Canterbury has also little to offer. A small shipment arrives from Melbourne early next week, but there is a great deal of doubt expressed as to the quality of the onions from that quarter as-i reports indicate that they will not stand much handling. Fairly heavy bookings continue to be done in Japanese onions for delivery aboj.it the middle of August around 18s 6d, while orders continue to be taken for Americans to arrive over September, October and November. New Season’s Maize Arrives • Maize continues to meet with a healthy demand from poultry feeders, but the market is affected to some extent by the large amount of inferior quality maize which has been coming forward over the past week or so from the Bay of Plenty. Good quality maize finds a ready market up to 6s 2d on the wharf, odd parcels bringing slightly more. The first of the new season s maize came to hand from the Bay of Plenty this week in a parcel of 30 odd sacks. The consignment had been shelled two or three weeks before its time and after only three or four days in Auckland is heating rapidly. It is now being offered in city marts at as low as 5s 6d a bushel. Even lower prices may have to be taken ftp* the tail-end of the consignment. Oat Market Quiet The oat market registers little life at the moment, and only limited’ business is recorded on the spot. Values, through store Auckland, remain practically unaltered at about 4s 9d for B gartons, and up to 5s 2d for A’s. Chaff is uninteresting, and ample supplies sell through store on a practically lifeless market at up to £9 10s a ton. Fowlwheat is also attracting little interest at the moment, and ample supplies are in sight for some time to come. A slightly easier tendency is register: in the Southern market, but, whet’ru there will be any decided move downwards, is hard to indicate. Values through store Auckland still range up to 7s 9d a bushel. Pollard Stocks Light Stocks of pollard are extremely light at the moment with New Zealand millers still able to cope with the demand. A shipment from Adelaide is due early next week and this should ease the situation temporarily. Merchants’ quotations through store range up to lls a cwt. Bran is quoted up to Ss 9d a cwt. . - Merchants have run right out oi molasses and inquiries at the only source of supply, the Colonial Sugar Company, result in the information that no further supplies will be available until about the middle of August. Produce Boat Movements The Wingatui, from the South, arrived in Auckland this morning. The Kurow, from Port Craig, Bluff anrl Dunedin, left Wellington yesterday for Auckland, via Picton and Napier. The Waipiata, from Dunedin only, was scheduled to leave Lyttelton yesterday, via Wellington, for Auckland, and is due in this port on Monday. The Katoa was scheduled to clear Dunedin yesterday for Timaru, Lyttelton, Wellington and Auckland. The vessel is due here on Saturday week. The Kawatiri, from Adelaide, Edi thburg and Melbourne, arrived at New Plymouth yesterday. The vessel clears there to-day for Onerahi, Portland and Auckland, and is due here on Wednesday next. From Auckland the vessel goes to Wellington, Lyttelton and Dunedin. A vessel loads at South Australian ports about the end of June for Bluff, Dunedin, Lyttelton, Wellington and Auckland.