TRADE NOTES

Evening Star, Issue 18332, 20 July 1923, Page 5

TRADE NOTES

AH UNPROPITIOUS MONTH.

July is always a quiet month in business. Importers and merchants generally are finishing np stock-taking, and it is the in-between season for the export of our principal products. But July, 1923, is likely to bo remembered as remarkable for dullness. Bad weather and sickness have kept people indoors to a remarkable extent, and the restriction of retail business in practically all •linos is reflected in wholesale business.

A rather more serious aspect is the hold-up of rural operations, particularly cropping. At this time of year wheat should bo “shot”—i.e., through the ground —but in very many districts ploughing has not even begun, for the land lias been too wet to enable farmers to got on to it. Stock is not thriving, whether on pastures or turnips; in too ninny districts it is going back in condition. There:have also been'losses of sheep in high country, though to what extent it cannot yet bo definitely said, further 'depleting Hocks, which in Otago are shown by statistics to have been undergoing an undesirable shrinkage. On top of this there is tho dislocation of our export trade at tho other end, caused by tho dockers' strike in Britain, which’seems to bo more serious than the cables indicate. End-of-the-season shipments of both frozen meat and dairy produce are afloat, also some fruit shipments, and kisses on these appear inevitable. A WHEAT PROBLEM. There is still very little business passing in wheat, owing to broken weather preventing threshing of lots that have been held over. For any good quality samples of odd lots threshed earlier millers are keen buyers, though most of them are fairly heavily stocked, having sufficient to go on with until well on to next harvest. One of the chief topics of conversation among farmers nowadays is the backward season. Instead of ploughing being completed, and in sonic districts tho seed in and perhaps through the ground, as is usually the case at this time of year, hardly a fiu'row has been turned. This is more noticeable in the Taieri, where only a few farmers have been able to make a start at ploughing. Thus the position is becoming worse so far as wheat-growing is concerned, as August is the latest month tor sowing this cereal, and unless the weather takes up very little land hereabouts will be sown in wheat. This would be doubly unfortunate, in view of Canterbury growers having been unable to put in much autumnsown wheat. Everything points to a serious shortage in Mew Zealand next season. Reports from outside markets show tliant there is a heavy world's surplus, and probably the bulk of New Zealand’s requirements will have to be imported next season. However, those Mew Zealand fanners who manage to grow wheat appear confident that in the matter of prices they will have the protection of the Mew Zealand Government, and will not have to accept the, to them, unpayable prices likely to rule in tho world's markets because of the over-supply.

The market for fowl wheat is now a shade less firm than durum: the past low weeks. But in view of email offerings 4s 6d (sacks extra), ex truck, can readily be obtained, purchase being both for local use and for shipment to the North Island.

In oats tho market is absolutely lifeless, and in tho absence of demand quotations are purely nominal at 3s 4A to 3s 4jd for A and os 2d for 15 grade, a drop of about Id per bushel. Northern operators are, however, looking for even lower values, there being no outside outlet in sight for tho surplus above New Zealand requirements and London parity tor New Zealand cuts being ss, f.o.b.s.i. There is, however, a bare possibility that torrential rain at harvest tune in Britain, following a heat wave, may have altered the position, and that inquiry may spring up there for New Zealand oats, (certainly none can bo expected from Australia, as latest reports show recent rains there to have done a vast amount of good practically everywhere, and tho demand for •Sts is at a standstill even where holders would accept reduced rates. The local market for potatoes has decidedly eased in the last few days, it is difficult to realise £lO a ton for best quality, and some sales have been made at £9 10a, with buyers still diary. Shipping quotations are also easier, ISorth Island buyers, especially in Auckland, holding off for lower prices. Fair quantities are still offering from Canterbury (showing that earlier reports of a shortage there were exaggerated) at £9 ICs, f.0.b.5.i., prompt delivery. Chaff arrivals, though curtailed by bad weather, are big enough to satisfy a demand which is purely local in the complete absence of shipping inquiry, Good quality realises £5 5s per ton '(sacks extra), ex truck, and other sorts arc being held in stores awaiting buyers.

There is a decided lull in. the seed trade, but the absence of business has not in general depressed prices, there being apparently no weak holders. Both ryegrass and Italian rye are very linn, and cocksfoot is steady at BJ,d, indications being that Danish importations for the coming season will be quoted at higher money. While clover has inquiry at 2003 to 210 s. There is a possibility of eeed merchants being alfcclcd by the Northern Hemisphere adverse harvesting weather, shortages there in any lines leading to demand here. Dig crops of seeds had been expected there, but how estimates stand affected will probably not be known hero for another month or two. As America is declining to take more fescue, even at prices less than half of thoso of last year, Southland growers wi'J liavo heavy stocks left on their hands. FAT STOCK OUTLOOK.

One of the features of the last two weeks’ stock sales at Burnside lias been tlio presence of a buyer operating in beef on bohalf of a number of In rercargil! butchers. So far as can be remembered this is quite unprecedented. This outsjdo demand from the South, however, is kilancod by the fact that fewer Otago cattle are going north to the Addington Kaleyards this winter than formerly, because Addington has been drawing supplies from the North Island. There lias been talk of the possibility of North Island fat cattle appearing at Burnside, but it is hardly probable. On behalf of some local butchers who feared a scarcity, quotations from the North were secured. These indicate that sb long as beef prices here remain under £2 per 1001 b, it would he a losing proposition to bring cattle hero from the North Island. Quotations were on the. basis of 27s 6d per ICOlb on trucks, Palmerston North, and at least another 8s or ICs per ICOlb would have to bo added to represent their landed' cost here, making the total above current local rates of about 32s 6d per 1001 b. It appears that it has cost about £3 3s per head to land shipments of Mastcrton cattle at Addington, and it would cost another £1 per head to bring them to _ Burnside. Though beef prices at Burnside were a shade dearer this week than, last, it looks certain that they will rule very high in August and 1 September. Probably tho export of North Island cattle to Melbourne will cease as rapidly as it began. Owing to supplies of Queensland animals there has been a big drop on the Melbourne market. According to northern reports, Melbourne buyers have fairly well cleaned' up available supplies hi the Palmerston North district. One letter from a firm there states that “ everything points, to a scarcity of prime beet this winter. ... A Melbourne buyer

has taken about 2,000 head from this district. We are shipping also to Christchurch, and they ■will bo wanting- more. Most fatteners are holding for a rise, expecting 30s per 1001 b on trucks. The Australian buyer was giving well over 25s per 1001 b for ox beef. We have plenty of fat cows killing over 7001 b, but the district is cleaned up of fat oxen.” Already there is a big shortage of fat sheep, and it has been- accentuated by a •buyer from Melbourne having secured 1,000 wethers from this district. .Relatively the seasonal spring rise in the next two months trlU probably be much more pronounced

■in sheep than in cattle. The weather has been so bad 1 that nothing will fatten as it should. Thcro have been falls of -snow in Central Otago and frosts afterwards, Sheep are nnablo to get at tho feed through the frozen snow. Heavy snowfalls have occurred in districts such ns Galloway and Tevint, where usually falls arc mild, and on this “flat-topped” country it docs not get away as it docs from more precipitous country. Reports from every where speak of fat sheep as in short supply. There is another cause besides tho weather, and that is tho depletion of our flocks. High prices for lambs have induced heavy killings, these including ewo lambs that normally would have been kept for breeding purposes. Some people have been prophesying that tho Government wild prohibit the killing of owe lambs for a couple of years to enable our sheep returns to show increases instead of decreases. In the meantime matters may tend to right themselves by owes for breeding bringing such a high, price that it will pay better to keep tho ewe lambs than to kill them.

It is premature to say yet what tho losses of sheep duo to bad weather in tho high country of Otago amount to. Some place them at about per cent., but it is yet a matter of guesswork, and first estimates often prove rather exaggerated. A well-known Central Otago runboldox, reporting on losses on a property near Alexandra to a local firm, states: “ Although tho day was bad and wo could not make n thorough inspection of all tho run or see many of the sheep, wo found all the country above l,2Coft was carrying a pood deal 'of snow. It was obvious that immediate action wan necessary to snowrake all that country and got the sheep into other quarters. Tho position of this country was critical, and with the further snow' likely during July, tho result would have been disastrous. A recent careful muster of the ‘weaver’ flocks showed that only 300 out of 900 came in. There was either a big loss in tho hoggets or they hud strayed back into higher country in the snow. There was a little thaw on July 13 and 14, but tho position over a lot of this country is very critical inded.” Apparently tho snowfall ran in belts, some districts where falls ars usually heavy having escaped, while others have had ctctremcily heavy falls, the worst feature being the subsequent heavy frost. A wholesale softgoods house reports a tendency of customers to prefer English goods made from wools that wore bought when raw’ material values ruled low’er than now. Tho Now Zealand mills since October have been working up tho higher priced wools of the past season. The tendency is therefore towards a reduction of prices, and probably tho first cuts will be in flannels and blankets, there being an expectation of an announcement to that effect shortly. The recent reduction in the number of retail drapery houses in Dunedin and the present disinclination of the public to buy has contributed towards the dullest time in the trade since the slump due to over-importation. In some of Iho Home markets there are signs of advances in prices, notablv in carpets, wliero the rise is stated at St) per cent., while cotton goods are firming a little. On the other hand, some lines of English hosiery are selling fairly cheap. In men’s hosiery there has been overstocking hero for some years, and with one exception local mills tend to be undersold by the imported article. There is a tendency among the community to prefer an article at a slightly less price though they know the dearer article will wear twice as long.