THE TEA POSITION

Evening Post, Volume XCVIII, Issue 145, 17 December 1919, Page 7

THE TEA POSITION

NEED FOR ECONOMY

CONSUMERS SHOULD CHECK

WASTE.

"There is much waste m tea on the part' of the public," remarked, a specialist in the trade, in conversation with a representative of The Post. It was gathered that tea might reach 4s per pound for. a fair to good household blend.. There was ail enormously increased- consumption of tea, it was pointed out,' hot only in the United Kingdom, but tea drinking was growing on the Continent—in France, j Germany, and other coffee-drinking countries. The consumption of'te.. in the United Kingdom was now nine pounds per head per annum—ah extraordinary rise. This was due, .110 doubt,'.'to the change in habits of the people in.respect to their beverages, also to increased purchasing power. Tho pre-war consumption, of tea in the United Kingdom was 6j pounds per head per annum. Russia, usually a h^fivy Tmyer of Indian and '.Gey- , lon teas, was not now conspicuous in the markets, but were it to resume its old position at the Indian and .Ceylon sales then, the present. position' wouldbe made still more acute. It would appear from advices received from India and Ceylon that there is. not, the tea grown nor in prospect to meet the present world demand at anything like-the forVner prices. ".'-'.'" So far as New Zealand is concerned stocks of tea are generally reported to be very short There had been-a "hanging back" for some time, in view of the _high prices of tea in both Calcutta and Colombo and in' expectation of pricemoderating. Time has elapsed, but.pricehave progressed, and now. there, is a great anxiety at this end to buy. Merchants, as may not be generally understood, buy months ahead. In fact, i_ the case of some commodities—not tea— they bought twelve months ago aiid have not even yet received all they bought; Tea bought in Colombo now would not come on to this market until well into ' next year, and no one knows at this moment whether the high prices now' demanded at the tea sales will be ruling then, or whether they will be higher-still and the tea at its present rates be "good buying." In the event of a "slump", the purchases made on to-day's prices would entail a heavy loss to buyers. Formerly fluctuations of -jd per pound were viewed with alarm at this end. To-day the fluctuations amount to pence per pound. There are the advances that have been' made in the average price of a tea of good useful quality, of a sort to be found in most households in New Zealand—August, 1918, 2s 2d per pound; August, 1919, 2s 4d; September, 2s 6cl: October, 2s Bdj November, 2s lOd. and same month, 3s; December, 3s 3d." This _t_a will be 3s 6d next January.' „'• The "cost of the tea in its.market, Calcutta or Ceylon, is to-day 6d per pound higher than it was in August, 1918, and the advancing rate of the rupee from a steady Is 4d to 2s- 4d accounts for a- further equivalent of 6d per pound. Other charges on an increased scale account for the rest

"Two things must be borne in mind," as the specialist pointed out. "There must be a more economical use of tea made in the home and elsewhere. Thai price having been low in the past has encouraged extravagance in the use often. A lot more tea is put into the pot than is required ahd thrown away before the best has been got out of it. And the next thing to be remembered is that tho worid is not producing enough tea for the world to drink at its present rate of consumption. You can't grow.' tea like turnips, just putting, in the seed and pulling the turnips when they come' up. It takes a full twelve months" to get the ground ready, and you can't pick'tea off the plant until the third year-after planting. It is impossible for anyone to forecast the tea market from -present indications. A shrinkage" in consumption might bring prices down a little—but as the toa habit is growing that is unlikely. But, more careful use could bo made of tea, and that would to some extent mitigate the effect of high prices. It is impossible to say if a fair to good tea will soon go to 4g a pound. But it will certainly be 3s 6d next month: