TEA SUPPLIES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23504, 15 November 1939, Page 12

TEA SUPPLIES

IMPORT LICENCES VALUE NOT REDUCED RESERVE BANK FINANCE ASSURANCES GIVEN Import licences for tea for tlio third licensing period of six months from January 1 next appear to liavo been issued to most merchants without reduction from the value imported in tho corresponding term in 1938. This is interpreted as the basis for the statement by the Minister of Customs, tlio Hon. W. Nash, that the Government had mado arrangements to ensure that all the tea required for somo months would bo available.

Merchants have no information justifying an impression that tho Government is . importing tea direct through the Marketing Department, and they point out that while they may be permitted under their licences to import tea up to the 1938 value of their importations, tho quantity they would thus secure would be much reduced. Through prico rises less tea can be purchased to-day than was possiblo in 1938 for tho same amount of money. Meeting Shortage

Whilo admitting the chances of a reduction in quantity in tho next licensing period, one largo importer expressed tho view that the shortage on the market would disappear after the middlo of next month. Some importers might bo awkwardly placed for supplies because of comparatively low imports in 1938, but that position should not ho general. Difficulties in finance had caused scarcities of supplies in tho present licensing period. So far as the third period was concerned, normal remittance of money could perhaps not be expected under war conditions, but there was every reason to believe that tho Reservo Bank would meet tho situation.

"My firm is assuring the sources wo normally supply witli tea that they will be ablo to obtain sufficient quantities," ho said. "It is sufficient for me to say we would not give this assurance unless we had some undertaking in Wellington that the position with the Reserve Bank, will be all right. If importers have not been able to obtain the information they desire through the "trading banks, they should not stop at that." Question of Price

When it was suggested to this importer that through the rise in tea less units could be purchased by the New Zealand pound than before, ho admitted the fact, but ho pointed out that the price of tea in Ceylon was not static. It should not necessarily be assumed that because tea was at a certain level in Ceylon to-day, the price would be the same in two or three months' time.