BANANA PRICES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 124, 28 May 1938, Page 10

BANANA PRICES.

AUCKLAND INCREASE. QUOTATIONS COMPARED. GOVERNMENT MARKETING. Comparisons or the present prices ot bananas with those of recent years reveal that the fruit is much dearer than before the introduction of Government control, and disprove the claim of the Minister of Marketing, the Hon. YV. Nash, that control has resulted in price reductions to the public.

The comparisons have been made covering four years, 1934, 1935, 1930 and 1938, 1937 being omitted because bananas were then partly free and partly controlled by the Government.

Ripe bananas in the Auckland City Markets sold on the Tuesday before taster, in each of the years mentioned, at the following average wholesale prices: 1934, 17/ a case; 1935, 15/6; 1936, 12/6; 1938, 28/. The increase in 1938 over the average for the vcars 1934-36 i« 13/, or 87 per cent., equal to almost 2d a pound.

Corresponding wholesale prices for middle of May are: Mav 18, 1934. 13/ case; May 17.* 103.1. 18/:* Mav 15, 1936, l's/9; May 20, 1938. 25/ to 37/0, equivalent to an average of 31/3 a case. The difference of 15/8 between the 1938 price and the average for 1934-36 shows an increase of 100 per cent.

"For almost the whole of last week good ripe bananas were above 30/ a case." said Mr. S. Coleman, an Auckland retailer, to-day. "And in many instances the cases contained only OOlb of fruit, as against the 801b usually found in a repacked banana case. On May 26. when the Matua's shipment was ripening. I saw repacked bananas sold in the auction for 28/ a case. Experienced fruiterers in Auckland cannot recall such high prices tor ripe bananas in the winter season."

Referring to quantities imported, Mr. Coleman said that the shipments of green bananas which had reached Auckland in March. April and Mav of this year totalled 41.300 cases, or 1200 fewer than in the corresponding period of 1937. The prices for the current season, with those for the 1937 months in parentheses, were: — Fiji bananas: March. 20/ (17/); April, 18/ (16/) ; May, 17/ (16/). Samoan bananas: March. 17/ (17/6); April, 15/ (17/6); May. 15/ (15/). Average for the three months, 1938, 17/ a case; 1937, 16/6.

Samoan bananas had been Government property since March, 1937, continued Mr. Coleman, and there was no doubt that the price was originally set too high, as the Fiji banana was worth at least 2/ to 3/ a case more, a mistake which had been remedied this year. One difficulty often experienced with the Samoan fruit was that it failed to ripen J properly, he said. I

Mr. Coleman emphatically disputed the Minister's statement that only a small proportion of the total recent shipment had soared above a reasonable value.