GRAIN, SEED AND PRODUCE

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 28008, 30 June 1956, Page 12

GRAIN, SEED AND PRODUCE

GUARANTEED PRICE FOR POTATOES (By Our Commercial Editor.) The announcement of the guaranteed price for the 1956-57 potato crop was the most important news of the week for the grain, seed and produce trade. The price is £2O <to the South Island grower) for the f.a.q. portion of his unsold crop of Suttons and King Edwards. The first reaction in the trade to the announcement was that a surplus nex. year is highly unlikely, so that a guaranteed price of the order of £2O is virtually meaningless. “The real test of the Government’s earnestness to encourage growers will come next year —election year,’’ said one merchant If prices of seed were more reasonable when the 1957-58 crop was sown the guaranteed price for that season’s crop could exercise a decisive influence on the acreage sown, he said. “The £2O a ton offered this year may induce a few more of those who grew potatoes this year to sow them again, but at today’s prices for seed it is unlikely to tempt more farmers to go in for potatoes.”

Alter a period of comparative stability, potato prices have again been rising this week. The reviving demand at all stages of distribution in the North Island has brought a rush of orders which South Island merchants cannot i.ieet in full. By last Saturday 94.411 sacks had been shipped this season from Lyttelton, compared with 52.638 sacks at the nearest comparable date last year. The increased shipments early in the season this year indicate the paucity of the North Island crop, and bode ill for South Island consumers in the next few months. "I dou jt if there are enough potatoes in the South Island now for our requirements —and still the orders come in from the North Island.” said one buyer yesterday. Commenting on the figures of potato shipments, he said that all of this year's exports had been •sold at four to five times the price of last year’s.

Seed Market Still Quiet The market for small seeds has shown little signs of reviving this week. Overseas inquiries have been few but some business has been done in white clover. The firm undertone of the market continues to surprise merchants. who say that in most previous years prices have tended to drift when business was quiet. There are. -ennarently. no “weak” holders of stocks this year—probably because the restrictions on credit since the last crop was harvested have prevented speculative buying.

Quotations to Farmers Prices quoted by merchants this week were as follows:

White Clover (m.d.)—Mother. 5s fid per lb: p.p.. 5s 3d; uncertified. ss. Ryegrass (m.d.)—Certified perennial Ins fid a bushel: p.p . 15s. Hl mother. 15a: standard. 14s 6d: Italian, mother. 15s; standard. 14s. (Ryegrass prices are subject to 98/90 minimum.)

Browntop.—ss per lb (dressed). Oats.—Gartons. 8s fid to 9s r bushel; Algerians. 6s to fis fid; Duns. 8s to 10s: Blacks. 7s 6d to 8s 6d. (Prices varv according to quality.) Cocksfoot..—3s per lb for good quality farmers’ dressed seed. Chaff. —£l6 10s a ton. Onions.—£23 10s a ton (nominal), on trucks, hags extra. Partridge Peas—No. 1,19 s a bushel, f.a q . 18s a bushel. J npfns.—l7s fid a bushel. lh ßt *d Clover (new season's).—ls Rd per Table Potatoes.—£s7 to £62 a ton. f.a.q. MINING SNOWY RIVER DREDGE (From Our Own Reporter) n GREYMOUTH. June 29. During the last fortnight the Snowy River dredge recovered 55 ounces of gold from 52.000 yards of spoil, handled in 266 hours. Wellington Alluvials.—ln the week ended June 22. the dredge operated i-d hours, handling 70.000 cubic yards, and recovered bullinn estimated to contain 152 ounces of fine gold. Working costs for the week are estimated at 14.69 per cubic yard.—(P.A.)