RICE MILL ON THE THAMES

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 14, 14 December 1932, Page 2

RICE MILL ON THE THAMES

OUTCOME OF OTTAWA AGREEMENTS. As a direct outcome of the Ottawa Agreements a large and up-to-date rice mill is to he erected on the Thames by a group of London merchants. The object of the new company, which will work in conjunction with a group of rice millers in Burma, is to secure for the rice glowers of the Empire the virtual monopoly which foreign rices have hitherto enjoyed in the United Kingdom. The decision to go forward with the scheme was taken in October 21. Though the duty ol Id a pound, which is to be imposed on all lice produced outside the Empire was ratiiied only on October 20 by the House of Commons, a site for the new mill had been fixed upon next day, and the erection of machinery put in band. It is hoped that the products of the mill will be on the market by the middle of next February, and that the mill with its distributing organisation will give a substantial amount of employment to British labour. _ s A member ol one of the firms associated with the enterprise said that the new duty on foreign rice would be more likely to provide the consumer with a cheaper rice than the reverse. Statistics were difficult to obtain, but be estimated Britain's present annual consumption of whole rice • —which is chiefly. American, Spanish, and re-nulled rice from the Continent —at about 70.000 tons, worth about 111.000,000. The consumption of_Em-pire-grown rice was only some 15,000 to 20,000 tons, though Burma was the largest exporter of rice of any country in the world. Burma rice was being retailed at present at about 3d a pound, Spanish at about 4d, and American at about sd. These were only rough figures since retail prices varied considerably. It was the intention of the new company, lie continued, to market a product likely to appeal to the British housewife, and at a price that would enable the trade to retail it at, if not below, the nrices charged at present for American and Spanish rices, which were no more nutritious, and no more inviting in appearance when cooked, than Burma rice. To the distributor, Spanish rice to-day cost about £l4 to £ls a ton. The * new duty would amount to £9 6s 8d a ton, so that when it came into effect the price to the distributor would he £23 or £24. The new company would he able to put a really good rice into the hands of the wholesaler at about £l3 10s a ton. and the result must he to divert consumption from foreign to Empiie rice.