TEA SUPPLIES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26692, 11 February 1948, Page 6

TEA SUPPLIES

WORLD-WIDE SHORTAGES MAJOR SHIPPING PROBLEMS “ The Government is making a genuine effort to eliminate the tea shortage as soon as possible, despite a world deficiency in this commodity,” said Mr L. M. Wright, tea adviser to the food controller, at the annual conference of the New Zealand . Mastgr Grocers’ Federation last night. “The principal difficulty now is shipping, which is urgently needed if sufficient stocks are to be built up in New Zealand to enable the rationing of tea to be lifted.” " , When the Japanese conquered Java, the world lost 22 per cent..of its tea supply, and the British Government was forced to undertake the distribution of the remainder. The Javanese plantations were not expected to attain their pre-war production for at least another year, and until then the worldwide shortage would continue, despite increased shipments from other producing areas. Delay at Sydney The British Government relinquished 1 control of the distribution of tea at the end of 1946, and early last year open auctions were held for the first time since the war, said Mr Wright. He visited India and Ceylon, and was fortunate in securing supplies of good tea, but the trouble was to bring it to New Zealand. Stocks bought in Ceylon in February, March and April of last year did not arrive until September, October and November, while a shipment which was expected in New Zealand in the next week had been lying in -Sydney for 17 weeks. “The buying commission is doing a magnificent job in Ceylon, and, although it cannot obtain our normal requirements of 12,000,0001bs a year, the present system is the best one possible. It is one thing to cable a request to buy 1,000,0001bs of tea, and quite another problem to get it to New Zealand,” concluded Mr Wright. Auctions in Ceylon Great care was taken in the purchasing of tea for the New Zealand Government, which was supplied in a higher grade than to Australia, said Mr J- Westwood, a tea buyer from Ceylon, who also addressed the conference. At the weekly auction sales of tea in Colombo about 4,000,0001bs were sold divided into about 2000 lots, each of which had to be carefully checked. There were six firms of brokers, the* New Zealand commission comprising four firms who worked together so that they did not bid against each other. India was still the largest producer of tea, with Ceylon the next, producing about 250,000,0001bs a year, and Kenya and Sumatra still doubtful. Once Java got back into full production the position would be a lot easier. The United States had only recently started to buy tea again on the open market, as they hoped that the price would drop, continued Mr Westwood. However, they were disappointed, and their future consumption was still an unknown factor, although it was expected to be greater than the pre-war figure.