VEGETABLES DROP IN PRICE

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28158, 22 December 1956, Page 14

VEGETABLES DROP IN PRICE

GOOD SUPPLIES FOR CHRISTMAS

Vegetables for Christmas are cheap this year. The Christchurch markets have had very heavy supplies and prices dropped sharply. Cabbages were sold yesterday for Is a sack. One produce firm said there was almost no demand for cabbages, cauliflowers. or carrots. Peas were in good supply, selling at 5d to 8d a lb. There was a very heavy supply of potatoes, at about 12s for a 541 b case. A few French beans were available at high prices. Salad vegetables are plentiful, and the prices are low, with the exception of North Island cucumbers, which sold yesterday at 12s 6d to 16s a case. Lettuces were 10s a dozen, and spring onions and ratfishes were sold at three dozen bunches for 3s. The best strawberries’ were sold at 6s 8d for a punnet containing just less than lib of fruit. Cheaper strawberries were 5s a punnet. Raspberries showed a similar variation —from 3s Id to 4s 7d. One produce market reported that strawberries were in short supply. Stone fruit is in good supply. Cherries were sold from 4s to 5s a lb, apricots at 2s a lb, peaches at 27s a case, and plums varied in price from 10s to £1 a case. Tomatoes, which are in plentiful supply, brought from Is 2d to 2s 6d a lb.

The retail prices of vegetables generally were in line with the market prices, although some shops were asking as much as 2s each for cabbages. The price for cabbages in other shops was down to 9d. Lettuces were 6d to Is, potatoes 6d to Bd, peas 9d to Is a lb, and tomatoes were 2s 6d to 3s a lb. There was a wide variation in the retail price of cherries—from 4s tc 7s 6d a lb. Peaches were Is 6d to 3s 6d a lb. and plums were generally about Is 6d a lb. A poultry distributing firm said that there was a very heavy demand for poultry, but supplies would be sufficient to meet it. Chickens were 4s 9d a lb, ducks and goslings 5s a lb, and turkeys 5s a lb.