MUCH TO LEARN

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 32, 1 November 1932, Page 10

MUCH TO LEARN

Australia and New Zealand FRUIT MARKETING Efficient American Methods Dominion Special Service. Auckland, Oct. 31. Returning to Sydney from a visit to Canada and the United States, where he made official inquiries on Itehalf of the New South Wales Government into the marketing of citrus fruits and the manufacture of fruit by-products, Mr. C. G. Savage, director of fruit culture, Department of Agriculture, New South Wales, arrived by the Niagara from Vancouver. He was particularly interested in the rapid growth of the fruit-freezing industry in California. “They are going in seriously for the frozen pack of fruit,” said Mr. Savage. “This is bound to affect the canned fruit trade and is a new feature worth watching where special facilities are to be found for holding fruit in cool storage. For instance, in restaurants, hotels and cafes it should prove very acceptable, for it is always an advantage to have, fresh fruit in all seasons.” Money in By-products. The manufacture of by-products from fruit was a large industry in California. Its purpose was twofold. In the first place it was a very successful way of using up low-grade fruit and so preserving the market for fruit of the highest quality; in the second place, It was a very profitable enterprise in itself. Fruit juices, crushed fruits, citric acid, and oils some of the principal by-products manufactured In California. In Canada the manufacture of fermented cider was a growing industry, while in the United States, where the manufacture of fermented cider was illegal, standardised apple juice was sold under the label of sweet cider. Mr. Savage was greatly impressed with the highly efficient organisation built up in the United States for the marketing of fruit, and the efforts being made there to pack fruit on standard lines. Much to Learn. “Australia, and, I daresay, New Zealand, too, has much to learn from the Americans in these matters,” he said. “Let me give you an example of the wonderful organisation built up by One of the growers’ co-operative organisations, the Californian Fruitgrowers’ Exchange, which controls the marketing of ‘Sunkist’ oranges. There are, I think, 26 centres of this huge organisation, and they are all linked up. with each other by direct telegraph lines. A girl typist, using a teletype, taps out messages which appear simultaneously in each of the 26 centres In America. By this system of communication every centre knows at any moment of the day where every carload of fruit happens to be and the price being paid in every city in, the United States. The whole gigantic business is controlled, one might say, at the fingertips, and at a moment’s notice it is possible to stop the journey of any carload of fruit and divert it to a more favourable market.”