TRADE IN PRODUCE

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 915, 7 March 1930, Page 10

TRADE IN PRODUCE

POTATOES STILL CHEAP NO PROFIT IN ONIONS Sun Office, 10 a.m. Trading in grain, seed and produce circles, as far as Auckland merchants are concerned. continues lifeless, with turnovers restricted to very small compasses. A big part of the produce business to storekeepers is being done through the marts at the moment. r pHE potato market is quiet and showing little change. Supplies of local tubers have been a little more difficult to obtain during the week, but the main autumn crop should be available within the next week or so: even sxiould the bulk of the remainder of the Auckland season’s diggings be kept for seed, and there is a big prospect that it will, ample potatoes seem to be available in the South on a basis which would allow their sale here without much immediate change In spot prices. Rangitikei sellers are also offering parcels for immediate delivery at from £5 10s to £G a ton on trucks. In the marts, locally grown potatoes are selling at from 4s Gd to 8s a cwt; through store, Auckland, merchants are asking around 7s a cwt. Heavy Supplies Of Onions Heavy supplies* of onions continue to come forward; the drier weather of the past month has given the remainder of the crop a chance to mature, and many growers should now be able to store portion of their harvest until later on in the year, when weak sellers have been all cleaned up. A Vancouver man who passed through the city this week discounted all talk of the possibility of export to Canada this season, as growers there have had a big carry-over; early purchases were also made on a very cheap basis from Australia. In the marts onions sell at prices showing practically no margin for the grower; through store, Auckland, merchants ask up to 7s a cwt for welldried and matured sorts; other inferior quality onions sell at from 5s 3d to 6s 3d a cwt. Maize Market Quiet The market for maize continues c-uiet: there have been fairly heavy arrivals at Auckland over the past fortnight, mostly lines bought forward earlier in the season. The market is weak and sellers have difficulty in finding buyers for anything but small parcels. Merchants continue to lioTd to a hand-to-mouth policy pending the arrival of the South African shipment in a few weeks’ time. Through store, Auckland, quotations range round 7s a bushel; on the wharf the cereal is nominally worth around Gs 4d a bushel. The wheat market is a little irregular, and although it showed a weakening tendency early in the week, there has been a firming tendency in the South over the past 24 hours. A shipment of the new season’s grain is due here over the week-end, and sales of this are being made at from 7s 6d to 7s 8d a bushel. Ihe oat market shows little change since the first weakening of prices which followed the offering of the new season s crop. Auckland through store quotations range from 4s 9d to 4s lid a bushel for B Gartens and from 5s to as Id for A’s. Chaff causes little excitement at the moment, and through store, Auckland, prices are practically unchanged at from £lO 10s to £ll a ton. A few orders have been booked for Tasmanian to arrive about the end of the present month on a basis which will allow its resale around £9 15s a ton on the Auckland wharf.