SHORTAGE OF WHEAT.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 198, 22 July 1937, Page 8

SHORTAGE OF WHEAT.

FACES NEW ZEALAND. IMPORTS MAY BE NEEDED. Per Press Association. CHRISTCHURCH, July 22. New Zealand is faced with a serious shortage of wheat in the coming season and the indications are that importations will be unavoidable. With the overseas market showing a strong tendency to rise, this will be expensive, as the importations will probably have to be made at a price above that paid in the internal market. Although the returns of sowings obtained by the Wheat Committee are not yet complete, it is estimated that there will be a decrease of 9.37 per cent, in the total acreage sown throughout New Zealand this year, as compared with last year. Returns have been received from 303 farms, leaving a balance of approximately 200 still to be obtained Last year the 303 farms concerning which information has already been supplied grew a total of 23,894 acres of wheat, while this year their maximuni sowing, according to the figures in hand, will reach only 21,655 acres, a decrease of 2239 acres.

It is considered that the position disclosed by the returns already in the hands of the Wheat Committee will obtain throughout New Zealand. The weather conditions throughout the wheat growing areas of New Zealand have been very bad and in some areas the farmers have not yet been able to do any ploughing. It is possible that the position may be eased slightly by the spring sowing, but this again depends on the weather and cannot increase the acreage to any appreciable extent.