Outlook For 1930-31

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1034, 26 July 1930, Page 27

Outlook For 1930-31

WITH books closed on the < ended, most farmers are with mingled feelings as to pr produce. To make any defin: seems there is much to suppor aggregate result will make a for 1929-30.

Everywhere In the Dominion, but more poartlcularly In the Auckland Province, there Is a definite move toward Increased production as a mean* of off-setting lower prices, and to • large extent this has been very affective during the past year, allowtng the country to balance up with exports showing a comparatively email decline; in addition, there is a t>i* carry-over of both wool and frozen neat which will go to boost up the trade balance of the season just started. Apart from that, there apW*f» to be a more healthy tone In aterseas markets, and there is every Prospect that the consumption of New Zealand’s exportable produce will increase on the lower price levels and thus check any further tendency to “top to still lower prices: the tenuency should. In fact, bo all the other way. Although the slump in butter hit the wminion very hard, it is very questionable whether its influence was so *ide spread as the slump in wool* Wool growers, for the most part, were tot able to offset price declines to any Appreciable degree with increased production and consequently balanced out well below the returns for the previ°us year. The Improved tone at the recent t-ondon sales seemed to Indicate that there will be a healthier demand for Wool during the 1930-31 season. There was general competition with french and German buyers operating freely, an d values showed a harden !“S tendency. That the wool textile industry in Britain was in a serious c °ndition was recognised as long ag< *u 1925, when a Court of 'nvestigatio ' Probed the wages question. They found no real dispute as to the depression of ne industry at that time, but the chief "•Terence was whether the depression as permanent, or merely temporary a® more recent investigation by Lo'd Macmillan showed that the conditi- n as not merely transitory The home arket had been relatively constant, l® 1 a* regards exports, tops were ba- h an-i ® Practically to their 1925 level, th j issues had fallen far below it, e decline amounting to no less than a Per cent. The obvious conclusion *a that if Bradford was to retain a J.?mrt of the world’s business, re action Of costs to a competitive level as necessary. This was the concln- ® reached by Lord Macmillan. That j.® decision would be unpopular wan ttsM 3 hl e ’ Txxit that opposition to on the i e< * judgment would be pushed t n iength of forcing a prolonged stop-

Position of Man on Land

operations of the season just looking forward to 1930-31 •ospects for prices of primary ite forecast is difficult, but it t the contention that the final better showing than the one

page was less to be expected. However, the trouble is now at an end, and if Bradford’s export trade in woollens expands the result will be a marked improvement In raw wooi prices. Prices at the July Loudon sales were lower than those ruling at the close of the May series, but they seemed t > be equal to. if not hette ruling at the close of the March series, as will be seen from the table appended:— March * J uly series. series. a. d. a. a.

On the whole, the prices were better than in March, but not up to the May level* if tranquillity prevails m the industry, and Bradford, through re duction of production costs, is able to recover the export markets, there must follow an improvement in wool. Thii* makes the outlook for the new woo! season very promising, but too much must not be expected. The position with respect to frozen meat can be summed up in practically the same way. Everything depends on the industrial condition of the Qid Country which, at the moment, show? every sign of healthy, if slow, revival There is no reason to expect lower prices than those which have ruled during the closing months of the past season. , _ _ . It seems that prices for dairy pro duce have definitely dropped to lower levels but, as already stated, the pro dueer lias prepared for this by increas ing production, and the general result will be Increased aggregate returns rather than a decline. Viewed all round, it seems that the position of the man on the land, al though it could be much better, could also be much worse. Scientific man agement is everywhere moving to cut down costs of production a unit, and. generally, counteract world tenden cies.

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