MARKET REPORTS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CIII, Issue 12159, 24 March 1900, Page 2

MARKET REPORTS.

GRAIN AND PRODUCE. Business in the local grain and produce markets has been more or less restricted during the past few days owing to the great scarcity of railway trucks. Owing to the Gymeric having been sent to Dunedin before completing her loading no fewer than 276 trucks loaded with oats and other produce, which should have been put on board on Thursday and yesterday, have to wait until her return .on Monday. This has caused such a scarcity of rolling stock that no grain can be got in from countiy stations, and the shipping traffic at the port has been so much interfered with that the Dingadee,, which arrived in Lyttelton on Tuesday last, still remains there and no 'work has yet been done in discharging the Janet "Niedll which arrived on . Thursday. Merchants who have' made contracts are Complaining bitterly of the delay in ’ fulfilling them as the railway authorities decline' to take orders for trucks until those now Held 'for the Gymeric are at liberty.' The scarcity of cornsacks is causing considerable inconvenience and is delaying threshing operations to a great extent. Wheat is offering fairly well, but there is no outside demand at present, and holders are anxiously awaiting news of charters for the United Kingdom. A few small lines have been taken by local millers on the basis of quotations, but as they are mostly well supplied they are indilferent aliout operating. Oats are coming to hand very freely, but buyers in the present unsatisfactory state of the export market, and with news of a weaker tendency in Sydney, are not offering the prices ruling last week, and quotations are purely nominal. The Spithead, which was expected here to load for the Cape has been withdrawn, and will now load at Melbourne, but the Lincolnshire, which is expected here from the Cape in about ten days, will take her place. Barley is almost a dead letter, and prices have weakened considerably with very little demand. Oat-sheaf chaff still meets a ready sale, but deliveries are very short owing to the scarcity of sacks. There is no change to report in the seed market, with the exception of the fact that cocksfoot is slightly weaker, owing to the difficulty of securing freights for London, and local merchants have almost ceased to purchase. There is little or no demand for potatoes, and 20s per ton. for April-May delivery is still the best offer for Derwenls at handy country stations. The onion market in sympathy with Sydney has also weakened, and buyers axe now only offering 20s per ton delivered.

' Quotations are as follow : Wheat.—Prime milling nominal, Tuscan 2s 2d,-Pearl 2s Id, Hunter’s 2s, whole fowlwheat Is 7d to Is lOd. Oats.—Milling Canadians Is lid, short feed Is 3d to 13 lOd, Duns' and Danish Is lOd. Barley.—Prime 2s 2d ;o 2s 4d (delivered), good 2s -to 2s Id. Flour. —Millers quote roller £7, stone £6, sharps £3 10s, bran £3. Oatmeal. —£11 10s. Oats-heaf Chaff.—4ss at country stations,. Beans.—2s sd. Peas.—Blue Prussian and Partridge 2s 6d. Potatoes. —Derwents 20s, April-May delivery, at handy country stations. Onions.—2os (delivered). Seeds. —Ryegrass, farmers’ lines Is 3d to Is 3d for fair and up -to 2s 6d for prime heavy farmers’ seed. Cocksfoot, farmers’ dressed • lines, 2Jd to 2|d for bright seed, to 3d for extra good. Covvgrass 5d 'to Gd. "White clover, fahners’ lines, 5Jd -to- 7d. Dairy Produce.—Cheese 3Jd to 4d, loaf 4d to sd, factory (large) 4d to 4Jd. Butter— Fresh local factory 9Jd -to lOd, best daily Gd to Bd, salt in boxes 7d for prime. Bacon and hams 6d to 7d, factory id per lb higher. The above prices, except where otherwise stated, are those paid to farmers f.o.b. Lyttelton. ASHBURTON. Farmers in many cases are threshing their wheat stacks and- awaiting further developments in the market, owing to the present- low prices, and their action is, all the more necessary ' owing to the great scarcity of cornsacks in the first- place, and of storage accommodation in the second. The latter is a serious inconvenience to many larmers who have threshed their grain, and cannot get it out ot the paddocks, and rumour has it that one firm, is about to make a rapid increase in its storage accommodation. Very little grain has been offered for sale, and that is for the most part Tuscan, this season, which sells eas.ly at 2s Id to 2s 2d per bushel, Pearl 2s lei, and'Hunters, of which the offerings are veiy few and far between, are wanted at 2s. Millers are buying but slowly, and in small lines-, feeling their way carefully, but not rushing the market in a way to excite same. Oats, with which the grain merchant has of late been so fully'occupied, continue to attract most attention; offerings have fallen off very considerably, and farmers seem determined to resist any fall in prices, more especially, as, it is almost certain that feed will be scarce during the winter months owing to the general failure in root crops. Sellers’ prices are firm, at, Canadians at Is 9d to Is 9|d, Sparrowbills Is 8d to Is 9d, Danish and Duns, good Is Bd, medium Is 7£d. Very little chaff is offering, the demand not being keen, and the price offered, 455, not being in accordance with the relative value of oats. DUNEDIN GRAIN MARKET. [Per Press Association.] ’ DUNEDIN, March 23. Wheat. —There is very little alteration to report. Prime milling lines are saleable at quotations, while medium quality is neglected. Fowl feed is in fair demand at quotations. Prime Velvet and Tuscan samples 2s 5d to 2s 6d per bushel, medium 2s 2d' to 2s 4d, good whole fowl wheat 2s, medium and broken Is 6d to Is lid, sacks in. Oats. —The demand has slackened off lately, t-amples of new crop coming forward not meetiii 0 much demand, but prime lines of eld oats are saleable at quotations. Prime milling 2s, best feed Is lOd to 2s, medium Is 8d to ls9d, inferior Is 6d, sacks extra net. Barley.—The market remains quiet, and it is very hard to do business, even at quotations, which are—Prime malting 2s 6d to 2s 9d, milling Is lOd to Is lid, feed Is 6d to Is 9d, INVERCARGILL GRAIN MARKET. INVERCARGILL, March 23. The Invercargill Grain Brokers’ Association reports:—A few small lots of new season’s oats have arrived, but the market cannot be said to have opened yet. The Olive Branch and Yarrowdole cleared up practically the whole of last season’s grain, and quotations for both old and new must, therefore, be considered nominal. A grade, old 2s 3d ; B grade, old 2s 2*d, new 2s l£d; C grade, old 2s 2d.