POTATO MARKET STEADY ,

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 672, 25 May 1929, Page 26

POTATO MARKET STEADY ,

POSITION IN CANTERBURY CHRISTCHURCH, Friday. Little change has to be recorded in the grain and seed values. Potatoes continue to monopolise the main interest. The slight easing mentioned in the mid-week report was not of long duration and today the market had recovered the 2s 6d a ton decline then noted. The quotation for prompt delivery is £5 7s 6d a ton. Business was done yesterday at £5 ss. The rate is £5 10s for June delivery and £6 7s 6d for July-September. Farmers are being offered £4 5s on trucks, but few are accepting this price. They are confident that even without an export outlet the crop will be short at the end of the season. It is undoubted that a good deaj of blight was manifested in earlier crops, but the later ones are turning out better in many districts. Inquiry from Auckland for potatoes is a little better than it was, but the trade from that quarter so far this season lias been disappointing. Consignments to Northern coastal ports have made up some of the shrinkage. Up to May 18 the quantities shipped this season are: Auckland, 28,280 sacks; Wellington, 24,000; Napier and Gisborne, 5,600; West Coast of the North Island, 12,000; and West Coast, South Island, 1,400. The Wingatui, the final boat this month, is due to sail for the North about the middle of next wee);. The wheat position is unchanged. Millers in the city are better stocked with wheat than for years. There is very little free wheat offering. Fowl wheat is worth 5s 71d a bushel f.0.b.. or 5s 3d on trucks. A fair amount of wheat is beingcontracted for by millers, for next season at the prices paid this year, 5s lid f.o.b. Lyttelton for Tuscan, 6s 2d for Hunters, 6s 8d for pearl, with a proviso cancelling the contract, should the sliding scale of duties be altered. Oats are unchanged. Few are offering, farmers apparently preferring to leave their oats in the stack until the demand improves. A Gartons remain at 3s (>d f.o.b. and B grade at 3s 3d, or 2s 9d to 2s lOd on trucks for A grade and 2s 6d to 2s 7d for B grade. Algerians are quoted at 2s 3d to 2s 6d on trucks. Peas show no improvement. There have been some exceptionally good yields. No. 1 is worth 4s 9d to 4s lOd a bushel on trucks. The small seeds market, though quiet, is maintaining recent values. Cowgrass is being offered freely and some of this is of moderate quality.