PRICE OF FLOUR

Evening Post, Volume XCI, Issue 16, 20 January 1916, Page 8

PRICE OF FLOUR

BREAD GOES UP AGAIN.

The Wellington Master Bakers have decided that bread shall revert to tha price from which it was reduced recently. For a long time the 21b loaf-.cost ■'■■' 4£d, but when flour was reduced to £11 10s per ton, the halfpenny was deducted. That. was about eleven weeks ago. Ever since that date the price of flour has crept up gradually, until it is now £13 10s to £14; f.o.b. Even at that price it is difficult to obtain, the reason .. probably being that several mills have closed down for cleaning, preparatory to dealing with the new season's wheat. When asked if a reduction in the price ' of flour was likely when the mills started again, one authority expressed considerable doubt on the subject. He stated that Australian flour was being landed in Wellington this week at £14 5s (including £1 per ton duty), and it seemed improbable that the New Zealand price would go below that at which Australian flour could be obtained.

Enquiries were made by a Post reporter as to the possibility of a reduction in the price of wheat or flour. It was ascertained that quotations are •at present being given for Australian flour at £13 16s 3d a ton, net demand draft, and New Zealand flour on the same terms, £13 17s 6d. The price of Australian, on which the cost of the imported flour is. based, is not likely to fall. The fact that the Commonwealth Government has sold 200,000 tons to tho. British and Allied Governments at a price over 5s a bushel f.o.b. is taken as indicating that the market is regarded as steady. Whether New Zealand flour will be cheaper in the near future cannot .be said, but it is not likely to come down to any great extent if the Australian market remains as at present, and the duty is not removed.