WHEAT SHORTAGE

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 149, 25 June 1932, Page 8

WHEAT SHORTAGE

IMPORTS ARRANGED.

ONE MILLION BUSHELS

DUTY ABOUT SEVENPENCE.

WINDFALL TO GOVERNMENT.

Owing to an admitted shortage in the supply of New Zealand wheat the Government lias been approached by the Wheat Marketing Board, a body or.

which both growers and millers are represented, to allow a certain amount of importations from Australia to make up requirements. The Primo Minister is expected to announce within the next few days that 1,000,000 bushels will be the quantity for importation.

The- money for these shipments will bo found by the millers through the Whort Marketing Board, and the prices will 1)0 011 an exact parity with those for the highest grade New Zealand t :: an or velvet at the various ports. The difference between what is paid for the wheat, plus all charges, and the fixed price at which it is sold will be regarded as a duty by the Government. This will work out at approximately 7d per bushel, which means a windfall to the Government of about £30.000. Auckland will require about two-thirds of the total importations.

Although full details of the arrangement by the Wheat Purchasing Board have not been made public, it is known that millers' have been asked to requisition for their current needs, and that the shipments will come forward in July, August and September. Steps are being taken to avoid a carry-over to next season. It is expected that the price to Auckland millers will be 1/ a bushel more than to Christchurch millers, the difference between the two prices representing freight and charges. The current landed price of southern wheat in Auckland is 5/7 or 5/8 a bushel. The Australian price is 3/G f.o.b. Sydney or Melbourne, which is equivalent to 4/7 f.o.b. Auckland, duty free.

Poor Yields. It was anticipated that the 1931-32 New Zealand crop would be large, but poorer yields, due to drought in the wheat districts of North Otago, South Canterbury, and Mid-Canterbury, together with damage to a fairly large proportion of the Oamaru crop through heavy February rains, resulted in a shortage of milling wheat. The millers accepted fairly large quantities of sprouted wheat, which to a certain extent they were able to mill, as they had a fair carry-over of old wheat, and because the early threshing in Canterbury yielded good quality wheat. The greatest difficulty with millers at the present time is the shortage of Velvet wheat, the principal variety required to keep Hour up to the required standard of quality and strength. With the importation of Australian wheat, millers will be able to use up the sprouted wheat which they purchased from growers at ruling rates.

"It would not be advisable from the growers' point of view to allow millers to import such quantities of wheat as would leave them with a heavy carryover at the end of the season," stated an Oamaru grain merchant in an inter-

"This would be detrimental to the interests of the growers, in view of the excellent prospects for the coming season's crop."

No Millable Lines Left. Mr. Robert Milligan, of Oamaru, in a statement, said tile millers had accepted all millable lines that liad come forward, and the position was that there were 110 millable lines on the market to-day. All the millers had stretched a point to take anything that was at all millable, and the millers found themselves in a position to-day of having substantial quantities of local sprouted wheat 011 hand, which without an admixture of good wheat could not be used. The millers, said Mr. Milligan, only wanted sufficient good wheat to keep the mills going and supply the demand for flour until next season's wheat is available. They did not want a carryover, because they realised that with the large acreage sown this year, under ordinary conditions there would ba larger supplies of wheat available next year. Mr. Milligan stressed the fact that they wanted to provide all possible employment, and therefore they should import wheat and not flour.

Fowl Wheat Prices. In a telegram to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce the Minister of Customs, the Hon. W. Dovvnie Stewart stated on Thursday that arrangements had been made to import milling wheat aiul that the difference between cost and selling price would be in effect part of the duty. There was 110 intention at present of reducing the duty or of importing fowl wheat, which was obtainable in New Zealand. To this telegram the Chamber of Commerce replied to the effect that fowl wheat from the South was selling in Auckland at 0/3, being higher than the price of milling wheat, though inferior in grade. Importations could be obtained from Australia duty free at o/. Remission of duty was urged during the period of high prices for fowl wheat, the suggestion being made that importations could be made under license. No reply lias yet been received to this telegram.

A statement has been made that the anomaly in the price of fowl wheat is due to the fact that millers and grain merchants arc competing for the little wheat remaining in the hands of farmers and that the millers cannot bid as high as the merchants without raising the price of flour, which they wish to avoid. Another statement was made to the effect that merchants had bought fowl wheat at advanced prices when it became known that crops would fall short of anticipations. In some quarters it is believed that importations of wheat would steady the fowl wheat price and that sufficient supplies would remain to meet requirements.