FRUIT TRADE

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 58, 6 September 1934, Page 11

FRUIT TRADE

SUPPLIES TO BRITAIN

COMPARATIVE FIGURES

(From "The Post's" Representative.)

\ LONDON, August 4. Nearly every one of the fruitproducing countries in the. Empire Overseas increase^, its shipments -of fruit iv 1933. One learns this from a publication, issued by the Imperial Economic Committee, entitled "Fruit Supplies in 1933."

lv that year in England and Wales the area under orchard fruit rose from 217,000 acres to 250,000 acres, while the area under small fruit increased slightly to a total of 60,000 acres. The Scottish acreage of small fruit showed an increase of 350 acres from 7900----acres to 8250 acres, while in Northern Ireland the total fruit area was estimated at 8719 acres as against 5666 acres in 1932. • ~ '■...,

The total area of commercial glasshouses in England and Wales in 1930----31 is. estimated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries at- 3150 acres, as compared with 2725 acres in 1924-25, an increase of 16 per cent. The selling value of the produce in 1930-31 is estimated at about .£5,570,000 an average of £.1770 per acre, as against £4,830,000, with a similar average per acre in 1924-25. Although the selling price of glasshouse produce declined appreciably over the period, the average selling value has remained practically unaltered. This is mainly duo to the fact that the output of flowers, foliage, and plants formed a larger proportion of the total output of crops under glass in 1931 than in 1925, and the value of the output per acre of this produce is greater than that of fruit and vegetables. The production of 'omatoes in 1930-31 is estimated at .54,000. tons against 47,000 tons in 1924-25, an increase of 15 per • cent., while the ' output of cucumbers has risen from 50 to. 54 millions. ~ .. i ■ ■ : : IMPORTANT FIGURES. Imports of ■ fresh fruit into the United Kingdom were of record volume, the total, of ,29,000,000cwt. imported, .being over ' 1,250,000cwt greater than.'.in 1932. Imports from Empire sources reached a new high level during the year, for the aggregate amount of over 12,000,000 cwt of Empire <fru.it imported exceeded tho previous record, established in 1932, by about 1,250,000cwt. The. figures show that Canada sent to the United Kingdom 3,437,000cwt of raw fruit; Australia 2,274,000ewt; New Zealand ., 496,000cwt; South Africa 1,645,000cwt; Jamaica 2,045,000 ewt; Palestine 2,075,000cwt. Becord totals were reached in imports from Empire countries of ten separate lands of fruit,- namely, apples, apricots, grapefruit, • grapes, . lemons, oranges, peaches, pears,; pineapples,. and plums. On the other ih^nd, imports of bananas from Empire sources were very much smaller than in 1932. :

Imports of apples from Empire countries in 1933 Teached a record total of approximately 5,800,000c-wt, as a result of the record quantities shipped to the United Kingdom from Canada and Australia. Empire imports accounted for no lessvthan 78 per cent: of aggregate imports of apples from all sources. .'■ Larger quantities of pears were imported froui Empire countries in 1933 than-;,,ever' before, as a,- resWfc of uej cord imports from -Australia, South Africa, and Hew Zealand; total of 494,000ewt accounted for 43.6 per cent, of imports from all sources.