GRAIN AND PRODUCE

Southland Times, Issue 20002, 16 October 1926, Page 8

GRAIN AND PRODUCE

THE CANTERBURY MARKET. (Per United Press Association.) Christchurch, October 15. Business in the produce line is sufficiently inactive to allow quite an amount of discussion on next season’s prospects. There is now little of last season’s produce in farmers’ hands. Wheat prospects provide the principal interest. There is no reliable information as to what the area will be. Last season it was 153,000 acres. Local increases of 15 to 75 per cent, are reported, but the aggregate area cannot be even approximately estimated. It may be up to 250,000, but it I is unlikely to be more. Whatever the area, however, there is no question about the condition of the crop. Rarely at this time of the year have the wheat fields of Canterbury looked better, ! the copious rains of the past fortnight being just what the crops wanted. The average yield for some years now has been slightly over 31 bushels to the acre, and on this basis a 250,000-acre crop would produce 7,750,000 bushels. The Dominion’s needs are estimated at 8,250,000, so that the probability of a surplus should not be a worry to growers. As a matter of fact, a leading local miller has confidently expressed the opinion that the trade next year will absorb up to 10,000,000 bushels. It is tired of carrying over from one year to another with a few sacks in store. I The main potato crop will soon be in course of planting. The collapse in price is not daunting growers, as most of them quitted at good prices earlier in the season. Farmers have a lot of seed on hand for which they have no market, and this will probably be planted although the Sydney market is not likely to be a suitable outlet, as this year the North Island is apparently growing more potatoes. Last season’s exceptional yield per acre is on the low average and unlikely to recur. Up to some weeks ago some speculation in forward business was done at £5 a ton, f.0.b., s.i., but nobody is offering this figure at present. The Kurow and Katoa, which left yesterday for the North, took between them 2,200 sacks, and the Waipahi is due to sail early next week. The Whangape, which sailed for Sydney, took 10,100 sacks in addition to 3,000 from Timaru. One more vessel is expected to ship potatoes this month. The market is easier for whites, and £3 15/- a ton, f.0.b., si., is now the maximum quotation. Dakotas have firmed and are now worth practically as much as whites. As a result doubtless of the recent burst of rough weather chaff was primed locally and £6 on trucks is now quoted for good bright. The pea crop is now being sown. There has been a fair amount of sowing on contract, but as the seed has been very scarce and dear, the gross area may not be so large as last season. There are inquiries from the Old Country for various seeds, including perennial ryegrass, but the amount of business so far •is. small