PRODUCE & MARKET REPORTS FROM DAY TO DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 81, 2 October 1940, Page 12

PRODUCE & MARKET REPORTS FROM DAY TO DAY

WHEAT INTO PORK

BACONERS REQUIRED

AUSTRALIA'S PROBLEM

'Evening Post,"' October 2,

Australia's surplus wheat problem has been tossed about like a balloon between political parties, but the fact remains that the exportable surplus is uncomfortably large. The .proposed sale of 20,000,000 busheis to Japan on credit has been discussed and authorised. Some bO.OUU.ouu busheis surplus is available.

! Efforts are being made to turn some of the wheat into bacon, but, as the "Pastoral Review" points out, the Aus tralian probable pig meat production cannot be regarded as the salvation of the wheat industry, but it may help if wheat and barley farmers realise that the pig can be used to feed thtf low grade and waste grains on the farm, and they will add considerably to their incomes as well as perform a national service in existing circumstances.

As to what wheat grown on the property is worth in the form oi; pig teed, some idea may be gained trom Ine following approximate figures ol pig production costs and vajues. Witu labour, plant, and interest on capital cost at, say, 12s per baconer produced, a figure that will, of course, vary under different conditions, and an average ot 6s per head for selling charges, including freight, commission, yarding, etc., there is a total, exclusive of feeding costs, of 18s per head.

The amount of food necessary to produce a 1401b carcass may be put at approximately 7^cwt, which is inclusive of. say, 841b of meat meal or equivalent food necessary to balance the ration at a cost of 10s a pig landed on the farm, leaving about 63cwt of cereals, or 12i bushels of wheat, to be fed. Total costs, exclusive of grain, would thus be £1 Bs. At present export parity baconers should net growers 6£d per lb, the total return for a 1401b baconer being £3 15s lOd. There is thus a net balance of £2 7s 10d, which, represented by 12i bushels of wheat, is equivalent to a return of approximately 3s lOd per bushel. The figures will vary according to local conditions, but they afford an indication that wheat-cum-pigs is much more likely to be profitable than any attempt to produce either separately. In New Zealand the provision of increased supplies of pig meat, particularly baconers, for the British market is encouraged and strongly urged by the Government. But the difference in the prices of wheat and barley in Australia greatly favour the producer in the Commonwealth. There the average distributing price to the trade and feeders for truck lots is 4s 2fd per bushel; Australian wheat imported by New Zealand is subject to a sliding scale of duty, but it seems fairly accurate to put it at 6s 9d to 7s a bushel landed.