GRAIN AND PRODUCE MARKETS.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 10756, 8 September 1900, Page 9

GRAIN AND PRODUCE MARKETS.

(BT OPB ro____ClA_ -DITOB.} Friday Evening. The condition of the European wheat crop is _3_lt with in a Home corn tirade journal of July 20th. With regard' to the English crop it is stated tha/t ait—ough the weather was of a typical July ch-raeter it could not not produce a. large yield of. wheat frojo.-h* thin, short-strawed crops which were common. In France, owing to the heat, the work of harvesting was started sooner than had been anticipated, aod it was stated that, -while in most districts the straw was shcrqj the ears were heavy, and average results were hoped for. Th* National Association of French. Millers has pub—shed an estimate of 318,624,000 bus_elb. To this must b* added the considerable quantity of old wheat carried over in France, so that little wiil require to be imported during the ensuing twelve months. Tbe Spanish harvest appears to havo been a moderate one. Supplies have been drawn from the Argentine iiepublic and from Russia, and during one w__k aJbout the middle of July 4000 tons of Argentine and 1800 tons of Russian wheat arrived at Barcelona. The Gorman crops showed a marked _aprovement, and expectation- w«re much better than they had been previously. In Hungary the harvesting was delayed for a few _juys on account of the weather, but there were no complaints of any importance wiith r_g«_d to the wheat yield in any direction. In Roumania the weather was, if anything, too hot. The i_porta from ths> jiri-cipal producing districts in Russia were satri-factory, and the Siberian crop prospects were described as spkndi-. This Polish crops, on the other hand, -are very bad, and feeding stuffs for next winter are expected to be deficient. The w_oat mar-st has steadied slightly, but considerable shipments are being made by steamer to London by the Gothic, Star of New Zealand, Banffshire, R_ngatira, and W_akatane. It has also been decided to place the Karame- on the berth, and she will require about 80,000 sacks. Th-sse will probably be the last of the direct steamers to carry wheat this season, as by the time they are dispatched, wool cargoes will be available. The Guiseppe D'Abundo is loading wheat for the United Kingdom at : Timaru, the Bcssfield has just arrived at Oamaru, and the Macduff is due at Lyttsl- j ton any day, whilst the Hermione also loads j wheat at Oamaru for the game market All ] the cargo is ready for these boats, and the impression is that when they are despatched, prices wi- ease off, as there are no other ireight engagements. During the week a considerable quantity of wheat in stora has changed hands at quotations, and when the vessels in port and to arrive have completed their loading, the ■ stores will be pretty wetl cleared of the j stocks they now bold,

The stearnsr K-bura completes her loading at Lyttelton to-day with 45,000 sacks oi oat_ for South • Africa. The Oreda- is arratged to load lor th© same port, and it is reported that the Claverdon has also been chartered. These two steam-, should cany 70,000 sacks between them. The stca-SEr Anrrlev completes h-tr loading- a.t Timaru witli 25.C00 sacks, so that these four steamers should relieve the market of over •half a million bushels. The cargoes of the last-nemed vessels being already engaged, there is no enquiry for oats for export. Small quantities are still being shipped to t~e .\ort_ Island.

The "Australasian" of the 25th ult. states that 77,000 sacks of Algerian oat 3 were recently gold to the War Office, and that consaquentlv the local market had advanced. It was also men—oned tliat a heaw business had been done in New Zealand oats, chiefly for transhipment at Melbourne. Barley is still selling up to 2s 3d for prima malting, but meets with little! enquiry. The potato market shows no alteration, and fairly large shipments to Sydney were again made this week. Stocks of cheese «r» shortening, and prices for factory and dairy-made have advanced.

The following are current prices paid to farmers, f.o.b. Lyttelton, for direct shipment from country stations and free of commission, except where otherwise specified: Wheat—Hunter's, pearl and velvet, 2a 5d to 2s s£d, and Tuscan 2s 6d to 2a 7d. Oats—Canadian ls 9d to ls 10d, short feed ls 9d to ls _id. Duns Is 8d to Is Bld, and Danish Is 7d to ls Bd. Barley (nominal) —Prime malting 2_ to 2s 3d delivered. Beans—2a 4d to 2s sd. Peas—Prussian blue* 2s to 2s 3d, partridge 2a to 2s 3d. Flour (cullers' quotations .nominal) Rofier £7, stone £6. Sharps—£4. Bran—£3 10s. Oatmeal—filO. Potatoes—Derwents, August __iy_ry, _8_

at country stations. Oataheaf Chaff —45s at near country stations- „ „ , , Hay—l3s 5s to £o 10s, delivered; primes, baled! £4, f.o.b. Grass Seed—Ryegrass, farmer*' lots ls 9d to 2s, prime heavy, town dressed, 2s 6d to 3_ 3d, cocksfoot 2_d to 2,d for bright seed, to 3d for extra good, town machine dressed 161b to 171b seed, to 4d, cow grass 5d to 6d, extra choice 6_d, whit* clover 6d to Dairy Produce —Cheese, factory, 5d to 6d, d_irv 5d to s£d; butter, factory, local, lid, dairy 8d to 9d, salt (in boxes) 6d to 7d; bacon aud hams, s_d to 6d; factory bacon and hams id higher.