WHEAT AND FLOUR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19455, 11 October 1926, Page 9

WHEAT AND FLOUR.

SHORT STOCKS IN STORE. RESTRICTION' OF BUYING. [RX TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT. ] DUNEDIN, Sunday. Hoping for a fnrthcr decrease in tho price of New Zealand flour, bakers are displaying timidity in the purchase of stocks. Tho approximate quantity of wheat held in stock by tho millers of the Dominion is impossible to fix, but the new season's Australian wheat will be corn in u; in next, month and, according to one Dunedin miller, the price will bo below that ruling. The total importations of flour, according to tho last available figures, is 15,356 tons. Some time ago millers considered they would have to close their mills, as they held no stocks. Some of the biggest mills have closed, but the smaller millers seem to be battling along. The area sown in New Zealand is problematical, but a Dunedin miHer said yesterday the common report was that very much increased areas had been sown throughout Canterbury and North Otago. As yet the growers' have made no stand for a fixed prico from the millers, and generally growers are not making forward sales of their wheat, which will come in on the market toward the end of February, or early in March. The heavy rains last week will help the crops wonderfully. The Australian market is showing a weakening tendency. This is due to the proximity of the new harvest, which promises to come in much cheaper. On the strength of the cheaper price millers are getting rid of their present stocks. "We certainly arc losing money on the present price of flour," stated one, who also said wheat could not be bought for less than 7s 6d a' bushel ex store, and very short stocks wore held in the stores. Only a few odd lines were held. He did not think the small millrfs would import Australian new season's wheat. He predicted that they would close their mills and a-.vait the" new Dominion harvest. When Distributors, Ltd., announced an increase of £1 per ton, owing to the rise in the Australian market, the millers hoped to make up a little of the losses sustained by fighting Australian competition. Previously, however, the rise lasted only one month, and prices are now back to the old level. Tho fluctuations in the market have restricted buying. When the price went up bakers waited for the drop, and even now they are buying only small quantities. The writer said many of tho bakers who had bought Australian flour Tmd lost money, on account of the New Zealand price dropping after tho purchases had been made.