GRAIN AND PRODUCE.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 208, 3 September 1929, Page 4

GRAIN AND PRODUCE.

BIG STOCKS OF POTATOES. AND PRiCES EASE. CALIFORNIAN ONIONS ARRIVE. The feature of the week nas been a pronounced drop in the price of table potatoes. A week ago they were selling at £13 to £13 10/ per ton, ex store, 10-daj-they can be bought £2 cheaper. The change is due to the fact that three vessels in quick succession have been dispatched to this port with quantities aggregating over 30,000 sacks. This means a good month's supply for Auckland city and' surroundings. It would not be surprising if the market were to slip further, but it is steady in the meantime, due to the fact that the first of these three shipments reached a bare market. Another seven days may tell- a different story. By that time owners of consigned stocks will begin to be anxious to quit in order to avoid storage charges. Seed potatoes have been in short supply, but the shipments already referred to are bound to contain a proportion of the smaller tubers; quite enough for requirements. A continuation of the recent spell of favourable weather should bring about a keen demand. Gamekeepers arc the most popular line at present, and are selling at about 8/ per cwt. Dakotas bring about 11/6. . • Onions Mixed Quality. The "market is well supplied with onions at present, but the quality is very mixed. Japanese are being offered on a wide range from 13/0 to 17/G, as the condition is so varied. The first Californian of the season are also to hand, and here again the quality leaves something to be desired. Different varieties of onions are mixed in the bags. Reliable quality are selling at 17/G per 1001b bag. Oats and Chaff. Oats are steady at the recent advice, and chaff, too, is still firm despite the fact that orders have been sent to Australia. Southern is quoted at £10 10/ per ton, ex store, and Tasmanian £9 5/ to £9 10/, ex wharf, due to arrive about the middle of the month. Wheat. There is no change in the wheat market. Supplies are regular, as is also the price fixed by the Southern pool. There is no such thing nowadays as getting hold of a line of cheap wheat. Current rates arc 7/8 to 7/9 per bushel,"ex store. Maize. Maize, too, is iinaltered. Supplies are plentiful, but 6/G ex store at the consuming centre is more reasonable than the price asked for wheat, and merchants have no difficulty in selling at this rate. Demand continues brisk. Bran and Pollard. Both pollard and bran are _ still in keen demand. Most of the leading merchants are obtaining weekly shipments of pollard from Australia to supplement Dominion supplies, but the high price of bran across the Tasman makes the landed cost almost prohibitive. Stocks are being rationed out at about £9 per ton. Wholesale Current Prices. Pollard and Bran.—Mill prices: Pollard, £9 10/ per ton; bran, £8 per ton. Merchants' quotations, ex store: Southern, £10 10/; Australian pollard, £11; bran, £9. Oats—Peed: B Gartons, 4/9 per bushel; A Gartons, 5/; clipped Dunns, 6/3 to G/G; clipped Algerians, 5/9; clipped Gartons, 5/3. Fowl Wheat—7/8 to 7/9 per bushel. Maize.—G/G per bushel. Barley.—Feed, 5/9 per bushel. Seed: Cape barley, 6/6 per bushel. Maize Meal.—l 4/6 per 1001b. ;' Barley Meal.-13/ per 1001b. Chaff.—G.b.o.s., £10 10/ per ton, Blenheim or Canterbury; Tasmanian, £9 5/ to £9 10/, ex wharf, to'arrive. Potatoes.—Prime Canterbury, £11 to £11 10/ per ton. .Onions.—Japanese, 17/6 per cwt. [ I