WHEAT AND COTTON.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21137, 21 March 1932, Page 9

WHEAT AND COTTON.

AMERICA'S SURPLUS.

PLANS FOR DISPOSAL. INTENSIVE SALES CAMPAIGN. DUMPING RUMOURS DENIED. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright (Received March 20, 5.5 p.m.) WASHINGTON, March 19,

The official contemplation of an intensive sales campaign to place some of America's huge surplus of wheat and cotton in European and other countries is reported by the Secretary of Agriculture. Mr. A. M. Hyde.

Although the. plans are nebulous, there is a definite hope that some such procedure will be followed. Conferences on the possibilities are being held. The possibility that part of the £40.000,000 farm loan fund of (he Tieconstruction Finance Corporation might bo employed in such a campaign was mentioned by Mr. Hyde. A resolution to make this fund immediately available has been adopted by the Senate and sent to the House of Representatives. Mr. Mark W. Woofs, of Nebraska, a prime mover in the conferences held at Washington to arrange for credit in order to sell some of the Farm Board's wheat holdings, said to day that the contemplated sales are to non-competitive markpts such as China and the Orient, with no thought, of selling lo Europe any more than the normal requirement from this count ry.

Officials believe that, virtually every bushel of wheat, and hale of cotton the Farm Board controls could be sold to foreign Governments if satisfactory credits were arranged. That is why the Administration and lenders in (.'digress are seeking to provide adequate financing through the use of part of the £40,000,000 of agricultural funds carried in the Reconstruction Finance Corporation Act. Many foreign Governments have made overtures to the, Farm Board, but in most cases acceptable credit terms could not, be reached. In a telegram to a Southern cotton firm Mr. Hyde stated that the Government does not contemplate dumping wheat and cotton, and that new markets would he sought. He specified that no sale would be made, except in an orderly way, in accordance with the Farm Board's previously announced policy. Such sales would bp constructive if made and, as a result, would benefit the fanners. The chairman of the Farm Board, Mr. ■J. C. Stone, said it proposed no change in its wheat stabilisation policy and the rumours that surplus wheat would be dumped on foreign markets were not true.