GRAIN AND PRODUCE.

Auckland Star, Volume 246, Issue 246, 16 October 1926, Page 6

GRAIN AND PRODUCE.

CANTERBURY MARKETS. THE WHEAT HARVEST. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, Friday. Business in produce is sufficiently inactive to allow quite an amount of discussion on next season's prospects. There is now little or last season's produce In farmers' hands. Wheat prospects provide the principal interest. There is no reliable inrormation as to what the area will be. Last season It Was 193,000 acres. Local increases or 15 to 75 per cent are reported but the aggregate area cannot be even approximately estimated. It may be up to 250,000 acres, but it is unlikely to be more. Whatever the area, however, there is no question about the condition or the crop. Rarely at this tube or the year have the wheat neids or Canterbury looked better; The copious rains of the past fortnight were just what the crops wanted. The average yield for some years now has been slightly over 31 bushels to the acre, and on this basis a 2 50,000-acre crop would produce seven and three-quarter million bushels, ine Dominion's needs are estimated at eight ™, a fiuarter million, so that the probability or a surplus should not be a worry inV-7°™m s - £ s a ma "er of fact a leading & cogently expressedlhe Stt a ' m , e lra s e next y eaf wl » a bs °rt> carrvlnl nv^l 11 '?" bushe l s - "is tired or % ° course n n r a n,, p » otato cr °P ™ U1 soon be in quitted at good prices earlier i n the ?ef fffflr_f_v__B.£-S s en___i S3 was , don e « £5 a ton, r.0.b., but nobody il offering this figure at present. The K_?ow and Katoa, which lett yesterday ror the North, took between them 2200 sacks and the Waipabl is due to sail early next week The Whangape, which sailed ror Sydney to-day, took 10,100 sacks, In addition to 3000 rrom Tlmaru. One more vessel is expected to ship potatoes this month. The market is easier Tor whites and £3 15/ a ton, f.0.b., is now the maximum quotation. Dakotas have firmed and are now wort_ practically as much as whites. As a result doubtless or the recent burst or rough weather, chaff has firmed locally and £6 on trucks is now quoted ror good bright. The pea crop is no.w being sown. There has been a rair amount of sowing on contract, but as seed has been very scarce and dear the gross area may not be so large as last season. There are inquiries rrom the Old Country for various seeds, including perennial ryegrass, but the amount of business so far ls small. .. _. _