GRAIN, SEED AND PRODUCE

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28080, 22 September 1956, Page 14

GRAIN, SEED AND PRODUCE

POTATO MARKET STILL QUIET (By Oui Commercial Editor.) ! At least one grower accepted this week a price for his potatoes some £3O a ton below that he was offered last month. Many growers must have been , puzzled at the apparent lack of inter- • est in potatoes in the last few weeks, after prices had risen to £lOO a ton ■ and more in five months. Consumer resistance, m brief, has 1 brought about the change in the m»r- I ket. though several other factors have helped to reduce demand. North Island merchants have been anxious to quit their dear stocks before buying any more and this has temporarily re. ■ duced the outlet for South Island potatoes. The arrival in Wellington this . week of 9000 1001 b bags from Call-'' fornia has also restricted buying from that quarter. This small shipment is expected by local merchants to be the last from ■ overseas this season. The “statistical situation”—to borrow from the jafgon of the market commentators—is now more favourable to the seller: only limited quantities of new potatoes will be available to consumers in most parts of New Zealand until after Christmas, , and the quantity of old potatoes stiH unsold, though unknown, must be below normal requirements. Farmers holding stocks of what are euphemistically described this year as I f.a.q. potatoes should be able to improve on present prices in the next three months. . Small Seeds Inactive Another week of quiet trading In small seeds is reported in Cashel street. Ryegrass prices have eased 6d a bushel or so in the last fortnight, and white clover is perhaps Id per lb cheaper. Export business is scarce, but retail trading has im- . proved and merchants are confident that ‘ Britain and Australia must buy more New , Zealand seeds before the end of the year. 4 A letter received by one local firm from Its London agent this week said that English merchants realised they would have to buv more white clover soon. But until their ‘ present stocks were reduced they could not afford to take into store ths high-priced New Zealand seed New Zealand stocks of white clover may well be exhausted before the new I season’s crop is harvested. Stocks of ryegrass are more plentiful, but the present outlook for the next crop Is not so hope- I ful A continuation of the abnormally drv weather in Canterbury of the late winter and early spring could force many farmers to use for feed pastures they had intended saving for seed. 1

OTAGO SEED TRADE , QUIETER I (New Zealand Press Association) 4 DUNEDIN. September 21. 1 Business in seeds has been much quieter this week, as overseas buyers have largely * withdrawn from the market, no doubt because of the increased prices being asked from this end and also because they had ’J already bought fairly extensively and 5 have probably covered themselves for their immediate requirements. Reports from Britain indicate that considerable damage was done to both white and red clover crops, the continuous rain having caused the seed to germinate before it was saved. Damage was also done to the ryegrass harvest, but a lot of this j was superficial, and as long as the seed had not sprouted while exposed to the weather it would result in little more than A discoloration. Both cowgrass and Montgomery red . clover are firm, and the increase in price of the former recorded earlier has been fully maintained. Ryegrass Easier Ryegrass values have eased Somewhat, 1 particularly for perennial, and unless overseas buyers again, come on the mar- 4 ket may recede even further. Quotations for Italian and short rotation ryegrass 11 show little change. There is a steady outlet for cocksfoot, crested dogstail, and Timothy for the retail distributing trade, but there Is flff * Overseas market for these lines. quantity of Ghewings fescue and browrgg top left in merchants’ hands is smalt and prices show no change , Deliveries are now being made of seed lines of wheat and oats, but on present indications the area to be sown will be i much short of requirements. Many far- 4 n?ers in the Otago district could profitably T sow an area in either of these cereals. Ample supplies of chaff are available, but the demand is disappointing and sales are " low. WORLD BUTTER TRADE

LAST SEASON BEST SINCE 1950 I (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, September 20. , Increases in Australia’s and New Zealand’s exports of butter in the 4 favourable 1955-56 season brought W world trade in this commodity to the highest level since 1950, according to 2 a Commonwealth Economic Commit- £ tee review of world dairy produce, . issued today. Butter consumption, however, is .1 still only 80 per cent, of the pre-war 8 figure, while the consumption of mar- (M garine is greater than before the war, says the review. The review, based on statistics up ;I to 1955 and, in some cases. 1956, says r that the United Kingdom remains the 8 world s largest importer of butter, - cheese, and milk powder. The British Commonwealth has not shared in the general increase in T world cheese production in reepnt J years, but a (marked rise in cheese prices in the United Kingdom last year brought about a recovery of output m Australia and New Zealand. A general upward trend in world production of dairy produce is noted b ? the review; This includes a sub- 3 stantially-mcreased output of milk. ™ ai . nl y. because of the expansion of milk yield. In Britain, for example, the average yield in 1954-55 was 615 gallons—73 gallons more than the prewar yield. Malaya and other colonial territories were importing more tinned milk, and j imports of milk powder into India and peen substantially increased. Similar • SS? 8 !?® 8 w^ re hkeJ y to take place _ elsewhere, the review said. AMnvials—For the week ifl?hl Scp l. em s?. r 14 the dredge operated 116 hours handling 55.000 cubic vanis. and bul,i . on estimated to Sntain Of fine gold. Working costs for the t —(F» k A ) cstimated at 18-47 d a cubic yard.