LOSS ON FRUIT

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 4, 6 January 1944, Page 6

LOSS ON FRUIT

LAST YEAR'S RESULTS

A DEFICIT OF £90,808

(P.A.) WELLINGTON, Wednesday. New Zealand's pip fruit crop last season totalled 2,026,000 cases of apples and 235,000 cases of pears, all of which were disposed of iocally as follows: —Civilian market, 1,573,000 cases of apples and 201,000 cases o pears; armed forces, 362,000 cases of apples and 34,000 cases of pears; schools, 91.000 cases of apples. The division estimates that it made a loss of £90,808 on last season's crop, compared with a loss of £120,000 in' 1942, a loss of £468,000 in 1941, and a profit of £2000 in 1940. Before the _ war the normal crop was approximately 2 500 000 cases of apples and pears, half of which was exported, leaving 1,225,000 cases for the local market. Since the war there had been no export; so that, although the crop last season was 225,000 cas f®. J?? than normal, the amount available for the local market was 1,000,000 cases more than usual m pre-war days In spite of this fact, said an official of the Internal Marketing Division, the demand could not oe fully met and it was found necessary to begin regulating supplies to markets fairly early in the year As it was, stocks were exhausted by the middle of December. The demand was accounted for by the intensive methods of distribution adopted m recent years, the shortage of other fruits, such as oranges and bananas, and calls by the armed forces. It is believed the demand will probably exceed the supply again this year. The estimated crop is 1,950,000 cases of apples and 220,000 cases of pears. Nelson's production is considerably less than last year s, probably only 60 per cent, as.a j result of unseasonal rain. On the 'other hand, Hawke's Bay's crop is 50 per cent up on last year. The first of the new season s crop reached retail shops during the third week in December, but only m small quantities. Supplies are increasing gradually, but it is not expected there will be any great quantity about until Gravensteins begin to arrive about the middle of the month. Meantime, the ceiling price in wholesale markets is 13/6 a case, which means that the retail ceiling is 6d a pound.