GRAIN AND PRODUCE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 87, 14 April 1931, Page 4

GRAIN AND PRODUCE.

POTATOES ARE DEARER. OATS A SHADE FIRMER. There has been fair activity in the local potato market since last report. Supplies from Pukekohe have fallen off of late, and wet weather, interfering with digging, has accentuated the shortage from this source. As a result merchants have again looked to the Manawatu district for supplies, though this involves a much higher landed cost. It is still early enough for the South Island crop to be moved in any quantity, but a small shipment is exppected by the Waipiata on Thursday, and these are being offered at £8 per ton, ex the whan. Onions. Merchants are rinding it increasingly difficult to get supplies of onions from the Pukekohe district. Victorian are still available at 8/6 per cwt through store, but local dealers, attracted by very low quotations in the South, sent orders to Canterbury, whereupon sellers raised their limits sharply by 10/ a ton. Oats and Chaff. Chaff-is steady at £8 a ton, but there is no strength in the market. Supplies are coming chiefly from Marlborough, though a few orders are also being sent to Canterbury. Oats are firmer, and a rise in the South of Id to 2d per bushel within the last fortnight has been followed by local adjustments. Wheat. Quotations for fowl wheat are unaltered at 6/6* to 6/8 per bushel, but as the Southern market has firmed Id to 2d per bushel it is difficult to land and sell at the lower figure. From latest reports it would appear that the Southern market has steadied up, and indications point to present values being maintained. ■ Maize. There is not much maize left in growers' hands in the Bay of Plenty, but ample supplies are available from Gisborne with rates unaltered. A shipment of crushed and ground maize is due from South Africa about April 25, and of whole maize from Java at the end of the month. Bran and Pollard. There have been no changes in the prices of brand and pollard, but the demand for pollard has increased since the advent of cooler weather. Local mills are supplying bran requirements, but in pollard merchants are importing steadily from Australia. Wholesale Current Prices. Pollard and Bran—Mill prices: Pollard, £6 per ton; bran, £5 15/ per ton. Merchants' prices: Australian pollard, £6 to £6 10/ per ton; bran, £6 5/. Oats.—Feed: B Gartons, 3/9 per bushel, A Gartons 3/11, clipped Duns 5/3; clipped Algerians 5/, clipped Gartons, 4/6. Fowl Wheat.—6/6 to 6/8 per bushel. Maize.—Local, 5/8 per bushel, ex store. Barley.—Feed: 4/ per bushel. Seed: Cape barley, 6/ per bushel. Maize Meal.—lo/ per 1001b. Barley Meal.—lo/ per 1001b. Chaff.—G.b.o.s., £8 per ton, Blenheim or Canterbury. Potatoes.—£7 10/ per ton, ex store; £6 10/ on trucks, Pukekohe; Manawatu, £8 to £8' 10/ per ton. Onions. —10/ per cwt, ex store, and 9/ on trucks, Pukekohe; Victorian, 8/6; Canterbury, 8/6 to 9/.