UNFULFILLED ORDERS

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 256, 26 July 1935, Page 13

UNFULFILLED ORDERS

Inquiries For New Zealand Fruit CALCUTTA AND HONG- . KONG j I In these days of trade restrictions and high tariff walls, it was refreshing to hear at a Dominion conference of"fruit exporters in Wellington yesterday that the New Zealand Fruit Export Control Board had received last season requests for supplies to markets not hitherto taking New Zealand fruit. The chairman of the board, Mr. R. Paynter, of Hastings, informed me conference that the board had receved inquiries from what could be regarded as new markets, but it had not been possible to fulfil them. Just recently the board had an inquiry, he said, from Calcutta, for 2000 cases of apples, and another inquiry had been received from Hong-Kong for a parcel of Delicious apples, the price being very satisfactory—namely, 16/a case. Unfortunately the board bad no stocks to supply these markets, and it may be that in the future the board would have to hold stocks in order to fill orders of this nature. It was essential if possible to develop new markets, and to be able to meet the demand when it arose, particularly in view of the possibility of the contraction of the United Kingdom market. So far as Scandinavia was concerned it might be possible to utilise that market for larger supplies. The extra duty had been done away with, and this would enable the board to market at a later date than hitherto. A few years ago New Zealand had markets such as the Continent that took sizes of apples the United Kingdom did not require. The position today. so far as market preferences were concerned, seemed to be that all markets required practically the same sizes, with the exception of South America, which wanted large Delicious. Certain markets, however, preferred varieties that other markets were not keen on. and it, was the desire of the board to get varieties into those countries where they were wanted. Mr. Paynter said lie hoped the exporters would assist the hoard in the direction of orderly marketing overseas. He did not want to see in the overseas markets the spectacle seen on the New Zealand market in 1934, when fruit in cool storage had been sold as low as the actual cool storage charges.