PRIMARY PRODUCE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22620, 7 January 1937, Page 5

PRIMARY PRODUCE

AUSTRALIAN OPTIMISM WOOL, WHEAT AND BUTTER BREAKING OF DROUGHT [niOM OUK OWN COUHKSI'ONDKNX] SYDNEY, Dec. 11l Australian primary producers look forward to a your of groat prosperity. Wool is at its I test level for years, and a general price advance of Iroitt 5 to ]() per cent is expected in the next few weeks. The fat lamb market is lirisk and a good export trade is awaiting supply. Wheat is at 5s 7d a bushel compared with lis S)d a year ago, and is likely to stay buoyant. Recent rain opens up the heartening prospect of the end of the long dry spell in the coastal dairying districts, and a big production increase is expected. Tlio wool market has not been so buoyant for several years. The sales closed in Sydney on December 10 with prices showing an advance of 50 per cent on the opening series in September, and wool growers confidently expect even better returns in 19137 than they have enjoyed for several years past. The tendency, it is expected, will bo not toward spectacular rises, but to a steady and progressive price increase. Factors governing tho position are the general improvement in world markets and tho new AustralianJapanese trade agreement. For fat lambs the prospects are particularly bright, the market being brisk and profitable. So far the quota allowed by the Ottawa agreement has not been filled, and 1937 will provide an oversea demand for fat lambs that is expected to do much to stimulate this side of the industry. The wheat market for 193G closed on the best price average for some years. Although the 19.'37 wheat crop will not be sown until March, it is expected that the present high prices will result in the sowing of an increased acreage. Agricultural experts said this week that the l ( J.'i7 crop prospects depended wholly on seasonal conditions and the state of the market, but with the existing world demand for good-quality wheat there was no reason to assume that present prices would not be maintained. They possibly would be exceeded. Turning their hacks on the worst year they have experienced since 15)15, dairy farmers now look forward to a much better time in 15)37. Protracted drought in the dairying districts of the north involved producers in heavy loss during the year, production falling by 50 per cent. Tho breaking of the drought has brought new hope to dairymen, and, with further liberal rain in the near future, production of dairy produce will be back to normal. Fruitgrowers have experienced a good export season and look forward to satisfactory conditions in 1907. Australian citrus growers in the present year have been favoured by the lightness of the crop in California. Another favourable factor was the granting of the bounty on citrus exported to the Fast and to Canada. Increased benefits are expected now from the recent partial lifting of the New Zealand embargo on Mew South Wales oranges. CHEESE CONSUMPTION INTERNATIONAL TRADE POSITION OF DOMINION [I'HOM OUR OWN CORKKSJ'ONPKNT] LONDON, Dec. I!) j International trade in cheese declined ! by about 21 per cent between 1920 and I 1935, and preliminary figures suggest j that the downward trend has continued during 193(3, according to a report issued by the Imperial Economic Committee. Empire shipments were fairly well maintained from 19L'9 to 1934, but a reduction in 1935 brought that year's figure 11 per cent below that of 15)29. New Zealand is the chief exporting country. Although imports of cheese into the United Kingdom declined between 1929 and 1935, the proportion of world exports taken by Britain has grown to over half of the total. Nearly 90 per cent of United Kingdom imports are of Empire origin. Empire countries do not figure as large consumers of cheese. The United Kingdom comes at the top with a eonsumption equal to about 91b. a head, or 2J times that of Australia or Canada. European countries show a larger per caput consumption, equal to about 12 to 131b. in Germany, 111b. in France, and about 181b. in Switzerland. Details of New Zealand's consumption in 1934 and 1935 are not available, but in 15)33 it was 51b. a head. Dairy products resisted the depression rather longer than many other farm commodities, but prices declined until 15)34, by which time they had fallen more than agricultural products in general. Between 1925) and 1934 New Zealand butter decreased in price by 5S per cent, and Danish butter by 46 per cent, while cheese was reduced on the average by about 50 per cent. A marked recovery took place in 1935 and for both butter and cheese the advance continued during 1936. BUTTER IMPROVES NEW ZEALAND 97/- TO 98/Tlie London butter market is steady, with New Zealand salted quoted at 97s to 98s per ewt., a rise of 3s on previous quotations, according to a Press Association cablegram dated January 5. Danish is quoted at 104s and Australian at !>7s per ewt. Unsalted New Zealand is worth 99s per ewt. and Australian 98s. MARGARINE PRODUCTION DECLINE DURING DEPRESSION [from oun own connKsroNOKNT] LONDON. Dec. 10 Margarine may be cheaper than butter, and its price may influence many of Britain's poorer people to buy it in preference to butter on that account. But, during the depression, when its lower price might reasonably have been expected to increase its popularity, the production of margarine fell away considerably. With the exception of one or two countries its production in 1935 had not returned to tho level reached in 1930. Jn Great Britain, margarine production fell from 202,000 tons in 1930 to 176.000 in 1935. Similarly, Germany's production decreased from 430,000 tons to 401.000 tons, and the Netherlands from 126,000 tons to 55),000 tons. American production, on . the other band, showed an increase from 139,000 in 15)30 to 170,000 tons in 1935. These facts are published by the Imperial Economic Committee in a statistical review of world production and trade entitled "Vegetable Oils and Oilseeds." In the United Kingdom, it is stated, the consumption reported by the margarine industry reached a peak ci 176.000 tons in 1929. Thereafter, until 1931. there was a fall, but in 15)35 consumption rose somewhat to 147,000 tons.