MARKET REVIEWS

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 174, 20 April 1937, Page 13

MARKET REVIEWS

Meat Export Prices AUTUMN CATTLE FAIRS Meat export prices remain unchanged ; lamb and chilled beef are ruled by the schedule, but fat ewes and wethers have gone too high for export operators. ,Ewes made 20/- to 22/- for good average sorts, wethers around 30/last, week. The lambs coming forward now are chieily small lines, "eleaning-up” drafts. A year ago ewes were making 18/ to 20/-, and wethers 25/- to 27/-. Really good bullocks were making £ll. Mutton was above export values. FEILDING CATTLE FAIR. Many thousands of cattle have changed hands these past two weeks. Prices have been highly satisfactory to vendors. The ample feed and excellent weather doubtless assisted this result. All districts except Central Hawke’s Bay are enjoying a great late autumn. A feature of the Feilding fair was the remarkable number of passings. No less than 10 of the first 19 pens were passed and this for the first hour of selling. Later there were fewer The bulk of the passed lines were sold privately during the day. A.A. cattle predominated, many being Hereford cross, however. Nearly all beasts not polls were dehorned; many freshly so. Few were in forward condition, mostly in fair to medium store order. A number of pens bore evidence of roadwear. Pens noted were:— £B/15/-. —Passed, 60 P.A. and P.A.shorthorn cross bullocks. Well grown, good forward stores. £7/15/-. —Passed, 19 24-year P.A.Hereford cross steers. Medium grown, fresh, good condition. £7/10/-. —Passed, 40 24-year P.A. steers, 10 per cent culls. Fairly grown, but low condition. £9/15/-.—Passed, 41 34-year bullocks, P.A. and P.A. cross. Account A. E. Sandilands Estate, Kiwitea. Well grown and forward. £9/2/6. —Passed, 50 34-year P.A. bullocks. .Small to medium grown, store to forward order. £B/6/-. —The first sale. 20 34-year, including a quarter that appeared 24year steens. Herefords. Good store order. £7/10/-. —Sold, 40 coloured bullocks: 34-44-year. Well grown and good order. A good buy. £B/2/6. —Passed. 28 24-year P.A.Hereford cross steers. Good store order; well grown. £B/12/-.—Sold, 38 24-year P.A. steers ex Makuri. Well grown and good condition.

£B/5/-. —Bold, 24 Hereford-shorthorn 31-year bullocks. Good order and well grown.

£B/1/-. —Sold, 36 P.A.-Hereford cross steers; 24-year. Fresh conditioned. £B/5/-. —Passed, 15 Jersey-cross bullocks. Big and good forward condition.

£B/6/-. —Sold, 10 Jersey-cross bullocks. Big and forward. Cheap cattle. £7/15/-.—Sold, 15 P.A.-Hereford 24year steers. Ex Waituna. Very forward and fair to medium grown. £9/14/-.—Sold, 24 3J-year P.A. bullocks, ex Mokuri; very forward and well grown. £B/8/-. —Sold, 20 34-year shorthorn bullocks, good frames and condition; dehorned.

£B/11/-.—Sold, 37 24-year P.A. steers. Well grown and really forward order. Animated bidding on those, best sale so far. Good cattle and will give fair return to purchaser. £B/12/6.—Sold, 54 34-year P.A. bullocks; fair store order, but rather small.

£B.—I?.A. cows R.W.8., a big line. Good, young stock in excellent order. £6/10/-. —Hereford, empty cows. Big and good condition. £5/11/-. —P.A.-shorthorn empty heifers; 24-34-year; well grown and very forward.

£6/2/6. —Passed, 60 P.A.-Hereford empty cows. Big and forward; good fatteners.

Autumn Sowings,

Pasture sowings will soon be completed. There has been a steady demand, mostly for small lots of seed. As one merchant remarked, “We miss the bush-burns of years gone by.” There js, too, but little land being broken-in with the plough and pastures “hold” long years now, largely due to topdressing. Sowings of oats and barley for winter green feed are below normal in the Manawatu this season.

There is reported to be quite a considerable area of ■winter wheat sowings in Hawke’s Bay. The price of 6/- plus an allowance for increased costs is evidently regarded as satisfactory. Furthermore, winter wheat will yield two feeding-offs for sheep and this is worth a lot. Current Trade. Potatoes are steady in Wellington province, returning growers £5/10/- a ton. Manawatu has few left, Rata is getting low and Ohakune is digging out steadily. Southern supplies must now provide for the next six months. Current quotation, f.0.b., 5.1., is £5 to £5 5/- a ton. A few Manawatu onions are yet in growers’ hands; merchants’ offers are £7/5/- a ton, as last week. Chaff is worth £6/10/- to Rangitikei growers, and some sales have been made as cutting progresses. Hawke’s Bay and Wairarapa lines are providing chief supply. Much of the Rangitikei harvest is being left in stack to dry out as it was a bad harvesting season. Rye-seed in stock is still held in moderate quantities by Manawatu growers, though the greater supply is now in store. Feed-oats are 5/1 a bushel to consumers, ex store, Manawatu. Meals are in steady demand. Hay and straw are not iu active trade as yet. A Year Ago. A year ago potatoes were worth £7 to £7/5/-, and onions £6 to £6/5/-, 0.t., Manawatu and Rangitikei. Barley jueal was obtainable at £8 a ton, ex merchants’ stores. Grass seed was enjoying a late rush demand, sowings having been deferred, due to bad weather. A fine spell was then experienced in mid-April. Conflicting Reports.

These notes last, week contained a reference to southern potatoes, when it was stated that 3000 tons had been already shipped to the North Island. A Wellington produce merchant wrote drawing attention to what he considered must, have been a printer’s error. The printer made no mistake. The tonnage was widely published through

the Press from a Christchurch source. On inquiry being made the writer was shown the figures from a report by a firm well known in the produce trade of Canterbury and these figures were expressed iu tons. But a letter in answer to an inquiry, from another firm, states that the figures should be sacks, not tons. As it takes 12 sacks to equal one ton, the difference Is very great. Considering the nature of I lie season, I had expected shipmerits to the date, April 3, to have been around 500 to 1000 tons. It .would appear improbable that 3000 tons had been shipped, and so until absolute verification is received it may be presumed that 3000 sacks is correct. The Pig Market. Schedule values remain unaltered, except for a Jd. rise in bacon. Bacon and pork are now both 5Jd. a lb. Bacon is very firm on diminishing supplies, but pork is weakening, owing to end-of-season “clean-up.” Stores are making good prices considering the season of the year. 'The Levin market last week saw (>/- to tO/- paid for weaners, 12/- to 15/- for slips, 16/- to 18/- for light stores, and 22/- to 25/6 for heavy stores.