WHEAT PORTS CROWDED

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 812, 5 November 1929, Page 9

WHEAT PORTS CROWDED

UNPRECEDENTED CONGESTION IN EUROPE British Official Wireless RUGBY, Sunday. Serious congestion of wheat in European ports, on what is believed to be an unprecedented scale, is reported. Inability to secure further suitable storage space in Liverpool and Birkenhead for imports has led to .a number of incoming grain-laden steamers being detained in the Mersey on demurrage, while other steamers have been specially chartered to be used as floating warehouses. Large stocks of imported grain are now held at such ports as Hull and Avonmouth. A later cable message says grain ships are arriving at Liverpool practically by every tide. The warehouse accommodation is insufficient, and a number of vessels in dock are being utilised as warehouses. The position is due to the exceptionally heavy South American crop, and decreased Continental buying, and good Home crops. NEW SOUTH WALES CROP MUCH BETTER HARVEST THAN WAS EXPECTED Reed. 10 a.m. SYDNEY, Today. As a result of the very favourable spring conditions, the New South Wales wheat harvest is expected to be much better than earlier forecasts indicated. The Department of Agriculture estimates that the total will be 32,500,000 bushels. Probably there will be an exportable surplus of 13,000,000 or 14,000,000 bushels. CHICAGO VALUES LOWER Reed. 11.35 a.m. CHICAGO, Mon. Wheat sold at nearly four cents a bushel less, with prices sagging under general re-selling, liquidation, and loss of orders, influenced considerably by the slump in stocks, but also affected by weaker cables, better Argentine news, and a lack of export demand. Closing prices were: —December, 1 dollar 24 3-8 cents a bushel; March, 1 dollar 31J cents; May, 1 dollar 35 1-S cents.