TRADE IN AUCKLAND

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22936, 14 January 1938, Page 5

TRADE IN AUCKLAND

WHOLESALE AND RETAIL . - . •- j BUSINESS STILL BRISK A DELIVERIES FOR FEBRUARY •: _ ' - - v Although business is beginning -to, settle down again to normal conditions, both wholesalers and retailers continue-' to be particularly busy. This has beep, accentuated by the absence on leave of proportion of the staffs and by the re- - stocking by housewives of supplies ex-_ hausted during the holiday periods.'* ... Although the markets are not generally . J. active merchants are being kept busy answering orders to replenish stocks. Merchants are also already receiv-T". ing orders for deliveries on the Febru- . ary account, for which delivery will be made to the country on Thursday, January 20, while the town and suburbs will be served the following Mon-. - day. '■ . . , Good business is still being done by retail firms, especially those making a specialty of holiday apparel and camping gear, firms of this sort reporting a very successful season. Seaside stores are also experiencing very gratifying trade. :: RAZOR BLADES The retail price of a well-known brand v" of razor blades has been reduced from 2s- - to Is Gd a packet. The change was effected, j.. this month. ; CLOVES . Cloves are short and difficulty is being experienced in obtaining farther quantities-",-,, because of restrictions governing the ex-' ; port from the producing country. HERRINGS A well-known manufacturer advises that", the lower price list for red herrings of &U---pack has been withdrawn and that an ad- . vance of approximately 5 per cent has been x.. made. BATH SOAP . , Local manufacturers announce & reduc-s -; tion of 3s Od a gross in the price Of 40z. ; .i;. cakes of bath soap. No change i? to take-, ; place In tho price of the smaller size cakes: ASPABAGUS -LT Hawke's Bay asparagus has again come off »~j to the Auckland market, the pack of cannedi" green tips being now complete. Prices are—-& slightly above last year's level, but It U' !"■ thought that there will not be enough to T , meet the demand. SiewRAISINS Australian shippers of seeded raisins re-' port a record season, with stocks at present —• in the Commonwealth very low. Many packers have sold out completely. The out« put for the season just closed exceeded thai ol the previous year by 600 tons, all of. which has been sold. - CIGARETTES The packing in twenties of a well-known brand of cigarettes, retailing at is each. I&i j now being withdrawn, and will be teplacetf by a packing of twenty-fives to retail at W Is 3d. A line of cigarettes retailing ,at 4d~ a packet, previously offered with an ivory tip, is being withdrawn, and replaced by a iV, special plain tip. ! >v TOBACCO PRICES, A new list of the fixed retail prices for tobacco and cigarettes, to take effect as from January 1, has been issued. It also contains a list of the wholesale, prices. Several smalt alterations have been made. CANNED FRUITS 7*:Advice of the prices for new season's Australian canned fruits has not yet been;-.', received. It has been stated, however, that a decrease is highly improbable and that. . ■ an advance may even be expected. New , ' Zealand canned fruit will be available in fait i quantities and if prices are reasonable it is thought there will be no difficulty m : • disposing of the total output early in tho I season. DRIED FRUITS

A further decline of over 18 a cwt. In the - price of Thompsons' seedless raiai ns,- together' with still lower prices in all sizes of Callfornian prunes, have just been cabled San Francisco shippers of _ dried fruits. A considerable amount of business for forward shipment was placed before the .«nd'of the year at the higher prices then ruling and there is not a great deal Of interest being • shown In present" offers. . WALNUT MEATS Cables just to hand from Tientsin ship* fere of Manchurian .walnut meats confirm: . he previous information of a general firm-, ing in the market; This applies more especially to halves, for which there appears to - be an increased demand this season. It i«. " still, very difficult to obtain supplies worn- , the interior of China, and although there. • are probably considerable quantities of walnut meats in the Shansi and Honan dis- ••. tricts, the future of the market dependslargely on what proportion of these can be" brought out of Tientsin. Shippers also advise that it is becoming, increasingly dlflfr cult to make shipments to Kobe toreonnecfc with the steamers for Australia, andi Zealand, and all orders must .be booked. ■ subject to considerable delay in shipment, .i.

tea ■ ; The quantity offered at this- week's tea : auction at Colombo was SV7SO,OOOU>. . Qnality showed an improvement, especially for np-~ country estates. There was a good general demand for all grades. Best sorts sold at an advance of Id to ,2d per lb, while common and medium grades were irregular and ' easier at ft decline of V*d ■to Mid.,. . Next week's auction will amonnt to 3,250,0001b. A Calcutta cable-states that the market is firm to dearer. r , Advice from Colombo states that five anc» " tions were held during November, offerings £ amounting' to 9,548,8441b, compared with., 7,829,7981b in October and 7,396,8881b iii November, 3938, when only fonr sales wfera - held. Common and medium teas opened strongly, but after the first two auctions this* market weakened because buyers wen hold* ing off until the restriction quota for the , year beginning April, 1938, should. be announced. Following this announcement, conr, taining an increase from 87% >to 93% per : : cent, prices declined High-grown. brokons continued in: strongsdemand and' prices were fully maintained, although quality was not of the best.'lt was pleasing Jo' notice the steady interest showtt by Austria" lian buyers in, these sorts. Good quality pekoes also continued to be well supported. Satisfactory shipments were made to all markets and exchange dnring the month re* mained steady. V An improvement in the Quality of croos was expected with finer weather, which Ceylon began to experience in December. If * similar weather continued it was that fine tea should be available earlier than, usual, with higher prices for the better kinds. On the other hand, 'United Kingdom stocks at the end of November were estimated to have risen by about 29,500,0001b, and, combined with the increased quota, it was thought that this would probably oause a certain amount of weakness -in the common and medium teas. • t '<

DAIRY PRODUCTION MAUNGATAPERE RETURNS' [BY TELEGRAPH —OWN CORRESPONDENT] ... WHANGABEI, Thursday • Tjhe Maungatapere > j Co-operative. Dairy Company, Limited, lias increasedits output this year as compared with the previous season. . In December 183$ tons of butter were manufactured, as against 173 tons during December, 1936. The total for the season so far is 705£ tons, as compared with 651 i tons for the corresponding period or the previous season. The pay-out to suppliers for theDecember butter-fat supplies will be £17,181 at Is OJd per lb. finest butter?*, fat, as against £15,802 for the previous December's supply at Is pef lb. The total pay-out to suppliers for_ this season is £65,489, as against £59,543 for the corresponding period of the preceding season. This increase is due to the-increased number of "suppliers, as this season the Springhead Co-operative Dairy, Com--pany has closed its factory and the supply now goes to the Maungatapere company. However, six of last season's large suppliers have this season gone completely out of dairying and are running sheep, and a number of other suppliers have reduced their herds and are turning to sheep on'account of the difficulty of securing labour.'