INDIAN WHEAT.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2145, 8 April 1886, Page 2

INDIAN WHEAT.

At last, says an American contemporary, India has beaten Russia in competition for control »>f the British wheat maikct. Wo have not as yet the returns of the exports from India for the. whole of the past year, but the British Board of Trade returns for December imow that the imports of wheat into the United Kingdom during the past year from India exceed those from Rassia. In quantity the imports from Russia amounted to 11,986,359 cwts., while those from British India amounted to 12,101,903 cwU. The imports from India, therefore, exceed those from Russia by 115,004 cwts. In value the imports from Russia amounted to $22,308,610, and those from India to $22,653,495, an excess in the case of the Indian exports of $244,885. Only the United States, therefore, supply England with more wheat than India at the present time. The progress made in the wheat trade by India is really marvellous. It is only a few years Mince the exports began ; now, as we see, they exceed those from Russia, which until a few ye*s ago was our greatest source of supply. This is due to a large extent to the cutting of the Suez Canal, and to the extension of railways throughout India ; but most largely 'it is due to the fall in the valu* of silver. As the purchasing power of the rupee appears not to have declined, the Indian producer is not affeqted by the fall in silver. The rupee price of wheat has declined, it is true, in the great cities ; but it has risen very considerably in the producing districts, and, therefore, the effective price which the producer receives is very much higher than it was some time ago. On the other hand, the fall in the exchange enables Indian wheat to be imported into the United Kingdom and sold at a price which cuts the ground from almost all other competitors. If the Bland Act is repealed the permanent price of silver will probably be lower than it is at present. At all events it will not be higher, and no doubt, therefore, India can go on competing in the wheat market until probably it induces the imports from Russia to quite an inconsiderable quantity. If, on the other band, the Bland Act is not repealed, it is probable that there will be a considerable rise in the price of silver, and with this rise the advantage whioh Jndia^ now possesses in the wheat market will disappear. Com' pared with 1884 the imports of wheat from India last year showed an increase of over 50 per cent. This is mainly due, as we have said, to the fall in the price of silver consequent upon the agitation for the repeal of the Bland Act. To some extent, perhaps, the exports from India were stimulated by the Eastern Roumelian revolution, which gave rise to the feaf that war might break out on the Continent, and that consequently the price of wheat would rise ; but the main factor in stimulating exports from India was undoubtedly the falL in the price of silver, due to the agitation for the repeal of the Bland Act. If now Congress maintains the Act, silver will rise in price, and with that rise a considerable check will bo given to the exports of wheat. Probably the export* w)li fall to about the quantity shipped in 1884.

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