TRADE IN PRODUCE

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1063, 29 August 1930, Page 11

TRADE IN PRODUCE

HEAVY POTATO STOCKS PRICES STILL LOW Sun Office, 9 a.m. A further drop has taken place in the spot market for table potatoes during the week. flood table potatoes are selling through store at from £0 5s to £0 10s, sales being- made in isolated eases at a. ton through store, Avhilc for Avholesale lots the price is shaded even further. Heavy supplies are held bv Auckland merchants, and at the ' moment lliere is no indication of an early easing m the volume of consignments* coming forward from the South. A feAv merchants have Avorked clear of forward commitments and are now able to get back to a basis Avlicre. they can buy l rom day to day as business Avarrants. Many are still taking delivery of lots bought forward at prices above today s parity. Further heavy arrivals are expected at Auckland next Aveek. Onions Very Firm The market for onions is very firm on the spot, stocks having contracted to Avitliin a very small compass. There are not many Australian onions available at the moment, nor are they exceptionally popular Avith buyers owing to their indifferent keeping qualities. Through store repicked Australians sell around 14s a CAvt. Good quality Pukekohe onions sell at 15s to 15s Gd through store. The Golden Cross, from Pacific Slope ports, arrived yesterday with 1.600 cases and bags of Californian onions on board for Auckland importers. These Avere mostly sold to arrive at 20s a bag and 21s a case. Further •shipments of Califonian are booked to arrive at an early date. Shipments of Canadian onions can also be expected from time to time during the next few Aveeks. Lower Quotations for Pollard The market for pollard shoAVs a further decline this Aveek as a result of the fall in prices in Australia. Merchants’ quotations have dropped to £ 9 a ton through store, and this has stimulated the demand to a certain extent. Ample stocks of bran are held on the spot and this commodity sells through store at 8s 9d a cwt.

Oats and chaff meet with an unchanged market. B Gartons sell through store at 4s lOd a bushel; Southern chaff ijs quoted at £lO 10s a ton, Tasmanian at £lO a ton. Steady business is recorded in maize and the f.o.r. price in the Bay of Plenty is steady around 5s a bushel; steady business is being done with Gisborne on a basis of os, f.o.b. The wholesale price on the Auckland Avharf is firm at 5s Gd a bushel. Wheat continues to be firmly held, and there is little change in the situation; there is every likelihood of the; Pool advancing the price another Id next week. At the moment good whole fowl wheat is selling through store, Auckland, at 8s a bushel. It is interesting to note that in vieA\ r of this that overnight cables from Adelaide give the market for good milling Avheat there at 3s 6d a bushel. Flour there is down to £9 10s. Only nominal business is being done in grass, clover, and other seeds this season. KAIAPOI WOOLLEN CO. DIVIDEND OF 4 PER CENT. A balance of £14,943 is shOAvn at credit of P. and L. in the accounts of the Kaiapoi Woollen Company for the year ended July 19. This amount is shown after deducting £5,000 for depreciation. Properties and plant have been maintained in first-class order. Additions to these, costing £12,558' 12s 7d. have been made to cope Avitli tin* j requirements of the trade and effect economies in manufacture. The directors recommend that £ 5.0Q0 bo proA'ided for depreciation of plant and properties, leaving the amount of these assets standing in the company’s books at £179,492 lGs 4d. Stocks are substantially less this year. These have | been conservatively valued, in a Icav of j the unsettled state of the A\ r ool market.

The profit and loss account sltoavs a profit of £ 18,003 Gs, with the balance brought forward from last year £1,339 10s lid, and after providing £5,000 for depreciation, there is a. balance of £14,943. The directors recommend payment of a dividend on preference shares at 6 per cent, absorbing £3,911. payment of a diAidend on ordinary shares at 4 per cent., £9,692, leaving £1,339 to be carried forAvard. . After an interval of five years Avithout dividend, the ordinary shareholders received 3 per cent, ire 1928 and 4 per cent* last year. The company Avrote doAvn its capital in 1925 by 3s a share. Since then it has been able to earn increasing profits, the amounts having been as follow: 1925-26, £4,274 (after providing £I,OOO for depreciation); 1926- £4,521 (depreciation £3,500); 1927- £11,692 (depreciation £5,000); 1928- £13,681 (depreciation £5000): 1929- £13,603 (depreciation (£5.,000)

U.S.A. WHEAT PRODUCTION RESTRICTED NEW YORK, • July 23. A generation ago he would have been a rash man avlio prophesied that the time would come Avhen the United States would reduce her wheat and cotton production. Y'et such is the case today, due to the rising barrier of tariffs against America all over the Avorld and the difficulty in marketing American products. The Secretary for Agriculture and the chairman of the Federal Farm Board have just made a tour of the country urging farmers to reduce their Avheat acreage to the limit of the needs of the domestic market. What a contrast to the pre-war year in which the United States produced 1,090,000,000 bushels of AA r heat! The Farm Board for months held and controlled half the visible Ameri- | can wheat supply. Gradually it be- | gan to be convinced that the task j set it by Mr. Hoover had become im- i possible in A'ieAV of Avorld conditions | that continued unchangeable. There i was no alternative but to accept the inevitable. Almost eA-cry item of American exports was affected by tariffs raised in reprisal for the SmootIlaAA'ley measure. Wheat production, it Avas held, must be reduced. There must be no exportable surplus. The farmer must help himself. The only way to do so is to groAv AA'lieat only for the United States demand. The farmer Avould then not be concerned about the state of affairs abroad. Such is the position today. Such is the advice of the Federal Government, delivered in person by the Secretary for Agriculture and the chairman of the Farm Board, supplemented by the Press and broadcast. Americans have changed their diet Avith the years. If they ate as much wheat a head as they did 20 years ago, the surplus of wheat in the United States would not be a troublesome factor. Canada, Australia and Argentina have trebled their Avheat acreage in the last 30 years. Nearly all foreign countries have erected tariff barriers aeainsst wheat.