APPLES AND PEARS

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 117, 10 February 1940, Page 5

APPLES AND PEARS

State Control Operating HIGH PRICES REALIZED The State took over all pip fruits from Monday last. The wholesale prices of apples and pears on Thursday were twice what they' were last week. Yesterday there was a drop in price. , ... Fruiterers seen at the city markets yesterday expressed the opinion Hint the grading of apples had dropped under Government control. When the growers marketed their own crops there were live grades —extra fancy, fancy, commercial A and B and minimum. Extra fancy were coloured and without blemish. The three last categories included those fingermarked, spotted and otherwise blemished as well as cookers. Unier Government control the grades mid been reduced to three —extra fancy, fancy and commercial. Fancy grade apples marketed under the Government control were inspected yesterday, a case being selected at random. In the opinion of retailers with many years in tire trade these apples were no better than the commercial B sold in Wellington last week under private marketing. These fancy grad ed apples had blemishes and lingormarks, and were greasy; in some instances they were misshaped and scabbed. ' The market was in short supply 01 apples all this week. 'The first lot of Government scheme apples came in on Thursday, when the three previous da vs had been without supplies except for those still in store under private consignment. The result was that some inferior types of apples brought high prices because of the shortage. Gravensteins, for instance, should be at the height of their supply at present. and at this time of the year should be 3/- or 4/- a case and 2d. a pound to (lie public. Ou Thursday they were 12/6 for extra fancy and 5/6 for fancy. The difference was caused by the small amount of extra fancy placed on the market in proportiol to fancy. In one market the proportion of extra fancy to fancy was one-tenth; pears were supplied in the same proportion. Pears which brought 4/6 to 6./- last week were selling on Thursday at .12/to 1.8/6. Last, week they could be sold retail at f’ourponcc: to get the barest: ret urn on Thursday’s price eiglitpenee a pound would lie a fair retail charge. There are now practically no cooking apples on the market. For some weeks before this week there were several good cooking brands on sam. Yesterday’s extra fancy app’es brought 7/6 and fancy 5/6. Pears went at 11/- a case. Apples on Thursday brought 5/6 to 12/6 against 3/.- to 6/- last week.