PIP FRUIT CROP

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25426, 6 January 1944, Page 2

PIP FRUIT CROP

MARKETING OPERATIONS LOSS OF £90,808 LAST YEAR i (P.A.) WELLINGTON, Jan. 5. The pip fruit crop of .the Dominion last season totalled 2,026,000 cases of apples and 235,000 cases of pears, all of which were disposed of locally as follows: — Apple Pear cases cases Civilian market .. 1,573,000 201,000 Armed forcea .. 362,000 34,000 Schools 91,000 The repacking losses, including cool store wastage, amounted to 0.27 per cent, of the crop, and these losses are included in the figures given for civilian market consumption. Reduction in Wastage There had been a considerable reduction in wastage over the last few years, said an official of the Internal Marketing Division to-day. In 1941 the wastage had been 2.2 per cent, of the crop, and in 1942 it had been 0.5 per cent. The Internal Marketing Division estimates that it made a loss of £.90,808 on last season’s crop compared with a loss of £120,000 in 1942, a loss of £468,000 in 1941, and a profit of £2OOO in 1940. Before the war the normal crop was approximately 2,500,000 cases of apples and pears, roughly half of which were exported, leaving 1,225,000 cases for the local market. Since the war there has been no export, so that, though the crop last season was 225,000 cases less than the normal, the quantity available for the local market was 1,000,000 cases more than usual in’ pre-war days. In spite of this fact, said the official, the demand could not be fully met, and it was found necessary to begin regulating supplies to the markets fairly early in the year. As it was, stocks were exhausted’ by the middle of December. The demand was accounted for by the intensive methods of distribution adopted in recent years, the shortage of other fruits such as oranges and bananas, and the calls of the armed forces. This Season's Crop It is believed that the demand will probably exceed the supply again this year. The estimated crop is 1,950,000 cases of apples and 225,000 cases of pears. The production in Nelson will be considerably less than last year’s, probably only 60 per cent., as the result of unseasonal rain. On the other hand, the Hawke’s Bay crop will be 50 per cent, up on last year, The first of the new season’s crop reached the retail shops during the third week in December, but only in small quantities, and so far there have been only a few hundred cases altogether. Supplies are increasing gradually, but it is not expected that there will be any great quantity about till the Gravensteins begin to arrive about the middle of the' present month. In the meantime the ceiling price in the wholesale markets is 13s 6d a case, which means that the retail ceiling is 6d a pound.