APPLE EXPORT TRADE.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 807, 3 May 1910, Page 8

APPLE EXPORT TRADE.

■ •'BE&jLTS AT MONTEVIDEO: When the experimental shipment of »pp!es was dispatched o'n the. Paparoa from Nelson to .London in February, a consignment if between 700 aud SGO caees was also shipped as general cargo for Monte Video, with a view to. testing the South American market. According to tho Nelson "Colonist," Messrs. 'liuxton and Co;, Ltd., the consignors of the apples, -have uow received ii-cublo from Jlonte Video. advising that the shipment of apples had arrived iu fair condition and averaged six shillings per case. Each case contains one bushel of apples, •averaging in weight 40lb. The price is, therelore, ahout per lb. Tho cable added: 'VMarket prospects not favourublo for furth.hr cnnsignraunls." Tho information being by cable is, of course, brief, and it is impossible to tell the condition of'tho market on arrival of the fruit until further particulars come by mail. It was expected that a higher price would be realised, '. but little information is available as to. what prices tho lasm'anitra" shippers to South America are obtaining there for their apples. Ino prices ruling for Australian apples on the London market this time last year ranged from Ss. liar bushel for Alexanders to 18s. per bushel for Cox's Orange-Pippin. The above rcwlt. lends interest to the" following passajo from the. Argentine letter in the current number of the "P'astoralists' Review":—''We aro jn the fruit season, but only for those 'who have fairly good incomes aro luscious fruits available. Tear by year the position gets worse. Prices continue to rise. Soon fruit-eaters in Buenos Aires will bo confined to wealthy classes alone. .Not many years ago we had quite a--jru.it boom. Fruit for export to Great Britain by tho aid of cold-storage was looked upon as an assured now channel of trade. On paper the thing was worked'.out in.Blowing colours. Then came fruit exhibitions, ■with the Government paying little (bills; theso latter, by the way, led to 'several indecorous disputes, and the awarding of prizes gave way to no er.d olacrimonious discussion. Then every thing went quiet. . Fruit export exploded. Inhibitions without result. Jiow tho. question is raised as to whether Argentine ■fruit-growing is advancing or declining. Some writers assert that the average nuality-of fruit sent to market is inferior to that of three years ago. One authority, pays out of 3,000,000 (approximate) young fruit trees of one. to two years sold by tho tradd recently, nioro than threefourths are wrongly classified, and that jiono of them are of the first class. From this it is adduced that what is wanted to put growers' oh tho right track is official, technical■ supervision, in other Words, a 'Fruit Culture Office' attached to 'the Agricultural Department." Evidently there is a decided dearth of . fruit in Argentina if. not in' Monte Video. . W*st Australia apparently.'is about to be added to the list of ,' apple-exporting countries. The' "Pastoralists' Review correspondent there reports:—"ln tho extreme south of the State,the fruit.harvest has just been garnered. - The - summer Ihas beendriw than usual, and the.satnpl* is not quite up to earlier. expectations, but the magnificent apples which can bo purchased at such railway stations as Mount Barker can still speak tot, «i6ih. selves. One large grower, who has tried the export market in London with.success. is said to have netted'aver .£3OOO last season 'from ICO acres, of apple orchard, 'and planting is going on apace, on an export anticipation of 3s. .per case. As we i'ave previously mentioned, the export of ■grapes to Ceylon from the central districts has also been- prosecuted success-. fully. One result of the pi lilting of; the last fifteen years -is that' fruit, which ■was bnco too dear for general consumption, is now cheap and plentiful.