GRAIN AND PRODUCE MARKETS

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25276, 30 August 1947, Page 5

GRAIN AND PRODUCE MARKETS

PRICE INCREMENT FOR POTATOES (By Qur Commercial Editor ) grain and produce markets in Norm Canterbury remain quiet, activity temg largely confined to potatoes, appreciable quantities of which are being shipped to the North Island. Pending the announcement as to the amount of the September increment (which has now been fixed at 15s a ton), growers were naturally slow in making deliveries, but in the next few days many trucks should be unloaded on the market. The increment was effective from midnight Thursday, and for days past merchants as well as growers had been impatiently awaiting news of the exact figure, the lateness m the pronouncement being difficult to understand. Local onions, supplies oi which are somewhat scarce, have been reinforced by supplies from the North Island. Orders for wheat for spring sowings are few in North Canterbury. One large firm of merchants, for instance, has not yet received a single order. Only two to three weeks remain, if wheat is to be drilled this spring, and merchants report that farmers seem reluctant to disturb their cropping programme at the eleventh hour. Ryegrass values have slumped further There is still a fair inquiry from farmers for lines of lower germination qualities which may be bought relatively cheap. White clover has slipped another few pence, the price range now being Is 6d to 2s. The latest files of the “Farmer and Stock-Breeder,” an authoritative English journal, state: ‘Almost inactive conditions predominate for English red clover, and prices are mostly nominal. A few small parcels of Kent wild white clover of good quality are taken, but those from other counties are almost neglected.' In North Canterbury cowgrass values have receded about 6d per lb. The mar ket for Montgomery remains fairly firm at 3s 3d, 3s 6d, and 3s 9d, the last-men-tioned price being for mother seed. Merchants are waiting to see how the English crop turns out. and no definite information is expected on the point before the end of September. Cocksfoot is still lifeless and the brown top market appears to be very ouiet. Quotations are as follows: Potatoes.—Growers prices: Whites and Dakotas, £9 10s a ton, f.0.b., s.i.; Suttons and King Edwards, £lO. Onions.—£2l a ton, f.a.q. Wheat.—Tuscan and Cross 7,7 s BJd; Hunters, 7s lOJd; Marquis. 8s 2Jd (From all these prices Jd a bushel is deducted as the grower’s contribution to the insurance fund against frost, flood, and hail.) Oats.—A grade Gartons, 4s (on trucks): Algerians, 4s 3d to 4s 6d: Duns, good quality. 4s 6d to ss; black. 3s 6d to 4s. Red Clover.—2s, machine dressed. White Clover.—ls 6d uncertified. Is 9d pp.. 2s m.s. Barley.—Cape and malting, maximum price, 5s 6d (0.t., s.e.) for No. 1 quality Chaff.—G.b.o.s., £9 a ton (f.0.b., s.i.), equivalent to £6 10s o.t. s.e., countrystations i Cocksfoot.—*d to 6d per lb Linseed.—£3o a ton. on trucks. Partridge Peas.—los a bushel (No. 1), 9s for f.a.q.; Prussian Blue, 12s 6d.