FRUIT MARKET GLUT

Manawatu Times, Volume LIII, Issue 6552, 8 March 1928, Page 4

FRUIT MARKET GLUT

MELBOURNE’S EXPERIENCE SYDNEY, Feb. 17. Pears at 2s a easel Peas and beans at 501 b for Is! More than 3000 cases, of fruit for which there was absolutely no, market! Such was the record for Melbourne one day this week. With its frequent rain the season this year in. New South Wales and Victoria has been particularly prolific, and once again the efficient organisation of fruit sales has been the subject of controversy. Still, nobody has come forward .with a solution of the difficulty, and the gap between the grower and the consumer remains unbridged. The secretary of the fruitgrowers’ organisation recently called attention to the glut in- the Sydney markets, and he urged the people to go there for their fruit and purchase it at wholsesale prices. When he was asked to advise those who could not attend the markets and who found it rather inconvenient to take home a case of fruit, ho admitted that ho had no suggestion to offer. Some thousands of cases of fruit were tipped at Sydney during the week-end, and yet average prices wore maintained. The biggest fruit glut experienced in Victoria for years has left glowers with so much on their hands that they do not know what to do with it. The peach crop was extraordinary, and somebody conceived the idea of holding a special peach week. For a time, the growers who were disgusted with the returns they had been receiving, failed to keep the market fully supplied. When remonstrated with they glutted the market, with the result that second-grade peaches were sold at Is a case. . Last Friday the Victoria market in Melbourne, was ; literally packed to overflowing with fruit and vegetables. The supply was estimated at 200 per cent, greater than the demand. The market was a paradise for jam-makers. Last year, when there was a fruit shortage, the growers fixed the prices, but this year buyers are making their own terms. On Monday there were more than 50,000 cases of ruit in the market-peaches, plums, nectarines, pears, apples and other varieties—and when the market closed for the day there were 15,000 cases unsold. Hundreds of cases of over-ripe fruit were thrown away. The ruling price this week for good quality peaches was 5s to 6s a case, and medium quality from 3s to 4s. Pears were sold at 2s to 2s 6d a case. Peas and beans were selling at 501 b for Is. Growers had to be advised not to send to the markets any inferior fruit or vegetables as they would be unsaleable. It is expected that present conditions will last another three weeks or a month. Proposals to case the glut in Melbourne do not seem to be any more practical than those made in Sydney,