NEW ZEALAND FRUIT

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18162, 9 August 1933, Page 11

NEW ZEALAND FRUIT

TRADE WITH BRITAIN E.M.B.’S REPORT LONDON, June 29. New Zealand sent record quantities of apples and pears to . Great Britain in 1932, according to the report just issued by the Empire Marketing Board on Fruit Supplies in 1932. The New Zealand supply of apples, together with record shipments from Australia, helped to establish a new record for imports of that fruit into the United Kingdom from Empire countries. Total imports of fresh fruit from Empire sources also reached an •unprecedented''amount in nearly, ip, 600,000 cwt., whilst new high levels were reached in a variety of individual fruits such as bananas, grapefruit, oranges, peaches and plums. Certain others—-principally those imported from foreign countries—as cherries, gooseberries, raw currants, and strawberries, showed greatly decreased imports, the lowest,, in fact, since the war. Two unusual factors were at work during the year, the departure of the United Kingdom from the gold standard, and the import duties upon foreign produce. These elements helped to check the growing imports of foreign fruits and to lessen the competitive power in the United Kingdom market of those countries remaining on the gold standard. The average declared importvalues of fruit for the year were lower than for 1931.

The total imports, amounting to 28,037,000 cwt., were slightly below those of the record high level of the previous year. The fruit bill, £27,515,000, was lower than that for any year since 1922. This decline represents a general drop in the average price per. cwt. of the principal fruits, such as apples, bananas, and oranges caused by changes in the relative proportion of fruit imported, 'from the various countries as well as by the ,volume of supplies available. AN APPLE A DAY The total amount of fruit, grown at home or brought from outside, was sufficient to. give each person in the country during the year 79.1ib5., approximately l£lbs. a week; which if taken in apples would practically mean the proverbial apple a day! This was a fraction Jess than in 1931, the decline being due to decreased supplies of oranges, grapefruit, vpears and a number of other fruits.

The report shows that peaches and pineapples have grown in favor. Although the Empire supply of peaches shows a considerable increase, Italy retained the lead she captured from South Africa in sending the bulk of supplies to Britain. For the first time since the war there was a slight falling off in imports of grapefruit. The report presents a series of Tecord imports from the Dominions, Colonies, and mandated territories, even when there has been a decrease in the total amount imported, as with oranges. The report on Fruit Supplies reviews the New Zealand deciduous fruit season in 1932 and gives details of shipments to Europe. It also provides particulars of imports into foreign countries, but its outstanding feature is that it marks the continued progress and success of the Empire fruit trade in the United Kingdom.