OUTPUT DOUBLED

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 290, 7 December 1944, Page 8

OUTPUT DOUBLED

CANNERS , BIG EFFORT SUPPLIES FOR FORCES How the war more than doubled the demand on the New Zealand fruit and vegetable canning industry —from a total production valued at £502,192 in 1938-39 to £1,259,271 in 1942-43—»was revealed at the formation meeting of the New Zealand Fruit and Vegetable Canners' Federation at Wellington last week. Wartime canning of locally-grown green peas, for instance, reaches figures well in excess of the normal civilian demand. The greatest bulk of the industry's production during the last five years has been shipped to New Zealand and Allied forces overseas.

"The war, with its necessity for huge food supplies for the Services overseas, has made a record demand on the industry," said the president, Mr. C. Milner, Nelson. "Much of the production for tlie local market has perforce been restricted to meet this demand. At the same time, new lines have had to be produced, such as the meat and vegetable ration, canned rcot vegetables, and so on. Factories have produced at high pressure throughout the war period, and productive and economic efficiency has reached a high level. Several of the older established firms that have entered the industry have had to expand rapidly." Almost SO.OOOcwt of jams and jellies, valued at £282,098, were canned in New Zealand during 1942-43, Mr. Milner pointed out, compared with an annual pre-war production valued at around £160,u00: Last year 2300 tons of fruit, of a total value or £192,888, were canned —more than twice the amount canned in 1938-39.

Referring to the huge increase in vegetable canning occasioned by the war, Mr. Milner said that this activity in- 1935-39 was recorded under "other products" of a total value of about £184,000 .whereas in 1942-43 canned vegetable production alone amounted to well over 70,000c\vt, valued at £229,300. Because of concentration on tne staple itemj for the forces, other lines, such as pulped fruit and candied pee!, were produced in 1942-43 on about the same scale—£36,ooo and £21.421 respectively—as pre-war. Sundry productions had risen during the war from £184,581 to £497,578. The largest proportion of this production, too, was shipped to the forces.