COMMERCIAL.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 12601, 3 March 1903, Page 4

COMMERCIAL.

—, o Daily Times Office, Monday evening. j The amount of revenue uuilectecl at tho i Duneclin Custom House to-day on sonds I cleared for consumption wra £3655 Is sd. I ■ BKBADSTUFF3. The reduction of 30s iif.r ton In flour made by the New Zealand Flounnillers' Association Eiakes tlipir tariff now stand as fol- ' lows:—Sacks, fill 10* per ton: 100's, '£12; : 50*3, 512 ss; 25'e. £12*103.. The ..prion for ' shipping has only been reduced £1, and now ■ state's at fill per ton f.o.b. Pollard is still ! nominally quoted at £7, and bran has been ; reduced 'by £1 per ton to £5. .! The Muster Bakers' Association annour.c» thai; in consequence of the drop in tho price of flour bread will lie reduced from 7Jd to 7d the 41b loar. Now that the price of flour is fixed, tliero should bo business done in new wheat, but at present quotation!) 'are rather high for miller;—viz., is 4;1 f.o.b. Tjyttelton for pearl, j and 4s 2d f.o.b. for Tuscan. In Timaru J now wheat is expected to open at about 4s 3d, and from Canterbury the sale of 1000 . funnels of Tusran is reported at 4s per ; bushel at a country station. i I Th trend of this market; is likely to ho ] so largely governed by Australian prices j that the following from the Melbourne ■ Lender will bo read with interest:— I The immediate position of wheat in strong. ' ! Victoria will bo dependent on South Australia and reshipments of American wheat from Syd- . iity for the next five weeks, but after that date there should be ff.ir direct arrivals from San ■ Francisco and other American porta. In tlio . future there arc factors which cannot be over--1 looked. First there is the comparative lon- , ness of Argentine prices, business being now ■ done at r.Os Gd to 32s per -lSOlb c.i.f. (without exchange), according to quality and port of destination. Duty and charges paid, those rates , are equal to, say, 5s and 5s 2Jd, which comßr.ro ] i with 5s lid, the present local quote for Cali- j foraian wheat, and G3 2d for South Australia. But Argentine asd American deliveries of ex- ■ i tent are still a considerble distance off, and in ! the meantime the market is really at the mercy j iof operators. Anothar faelor in the forward I vlieat market likely , to cause fluctuations is j I the cnoroimis extent of purchasing completed j for delivery in a nhort period. The portion ; i of the se.ison to bo supplied from fcreipi wheat • is not to be so great as at fir3t expected. Those who are freely purchasing Pacific wheat forward overlook that the nsw crop can he bought for .vrival here in September, and that prices arc J likely to be on r. more moderate basis than nt j present. It appears fairly certain, however, ' that holders of early cargoes will mafto good profits, but the position is not nearly so safe for cargoes to nrrivo later in the year. Great caution is called for in ity further operations. Business just concluded ii Argentine wheat covers four cargoEa for Australian ports, or.e being for Melbourne, one for Sydney or Newcastle, one for Sydney, and one for Brisbane. Tho cargoes covet approximately 7001) tons. Argentine wheat varies greatly in nrice, rates tanking from 30s Cd to Mi per 4801b cost, infliirnnce, niid freight. Cables offer a cargo to finish loading in a few days at 80b Cd pet 4SOlb for GSJIb vh&t. while other cables state that new business for Fcbmnry-lfarch shipment is ' I difficult owing to the scarcity of freight for • I loading in these months. Argentine, Bnrletta, i liusso wheat, 611b to 'he bushel, quoted at i!2s per 4801b. , PRODUCE MARKET. . S 1 The Oamarn Mail says: "So many and! ■ varied accounts have gone'forth lately con- ' oornimt the potato crop in this district that 1 an outsider must have b?on sorely puzzled • to get at tho truth, which, we believe, is 1 j that tho tubers will, on the whole, prive exi i celjent returns, if not in money, then in woight and quality. Some, crops, in isolated districts, have, suffered, hut the average yield throughout North' Otagn will not bo far short of seven or eight tons per acre. In some exceptional patches it is oxpeetod 1 to realise as many as 16 tons, 1 ««r