PRICES OF RAW MATERIALS.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 19 April 1922, Page 8

PRICES OF RAW MATERIALS.

MOVEMENT PACK TO PRE-WAR

ihe prices of raw materials, except tor a tew commodities, are not quite down to the pre-war level, but they are tending in that direction. The highest prices were touched in May, 1920, and since then the fall in values has been very pronounced. The following comparison will show the movements : Dec, 1913. May, 1920. April, 1922 £ b. d. £ s . d . £c. d . Cotton 0 0 6.69 i 0 0 0.18 0 010 28 N.Z. hemp ... 26 0 0 54 0 0 32 10 0 Rubber, Para 02 1 02 1± 0 0 104 Jufce 35- 5 0 58 0 0 26 10 0 C °Pra 30 7 6 56 10 0 24 5 0 Rubber, jute, and copra have fallen to below the pre-war level, and it is singular that these products come mamly from the East. Copra which was referred to before the war as "the consols of the East," is now £6 2s 6d per ton below the pre-war level. Jute has fallen £32 from the highest point touched in 1920, and is £8 15s per ton below the level of the quotation in December, 1913, while fine, hard Para rubber is 14^d lower than in. 1913. The contraction in the values of these raw products is expected to cause a cheapening of the manufactured goods, and wool and grain growers may get their woolpacks and cornsacks at cheap rates.