THE LOCAL MARKETS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2509, 16 April 1902, Page 19

THE LOCAL MARKETS.

The local wheat market is in a very xcited condition. The offer of a Dunedin buyer of 4s per bushel for a line of Canterbury wheat was refused on Thursday, and yesterday the sale was completed at 4s Id f o.b. Lyttelton, net cash, sacks extra. Thn> is equivalent to 4s 6d in store Dunedin. Already inquiries are being made concerning Calif oruian wheat, which, it is calculated, could be landed here at the pre^nt time at 4s-Btl per bushel. The future of local wheat market depends largely upon {Ne yield f'-oni the Oamaru di.stru-t, rei ont reports being of a very gloomy character. Owing to the exee--r>ive wet weather the stacks are sprouting considerably, and the ground is t-o soft that the threshing mil's ::re unable to get to work. It is impossible to say how far tho damage has penetrated into the interior of the stacks, but the fact remains that there is no wheat to be purchased at either Timaru or Oamaru. The Southland yield certainly promise* to be a good one, but that fact eloes not help matters much from ;v miller's poiut of view, for Southland wheat will not make good flour without an admixture of a grain containing more gluten. In the event, therefore, of the failure of the Oamaru ciop, the Duncclm millers will ha\e to depend upon Ctuitcibury supplies. Anticipating an ea-y market, the millers have abstained fiom buying, and consequently hold little or no M.ock. and they state that with wheat ai 4,. 6d p< r bushel they cannot profitably niauuf.tctuie flour to sell at £11 per ton. Advu .^s have been received from Australia that the recently repented ri-e in the i rice of wheat in Sydney v.ab due to ■the action of Melbourne speculators in overfhippnig wheat. They based their calculations on » good yield, and the available Victoiian supply turning out short they -were compelled to draw largely upon •NewSouth Wales and South Australia. Ihe margin of loss consequent upon the sudden advance in price was so wide that, in one or tv . o instances at least, as mentioned in the "telegram from Adelaide, printed above, ihe shippers resorted to the extraordinary j-tep of cancelling the charters, despite the heavy penalty thereby involved.