Local Mahket Prices. 25;] 



LOCAL MARKET PRICES. 



The Rise and Fall of the Market. 



We publish hereunder, as a matter of general interest, a compaiative 

 statement showing the market rates for a number of local products 

 ruling at certain centres of the Union at mid-January in 1919, 1920, 

 and 1921. In the absence in our marketing system of any definite 

 standard of quality for the commodities concerned, the minimum and 

 maximum prices are given, and as. the quality of each commodity 

 would be, in a large measure, of similar standard at the same period 

 of the season in each year, the prices afford some indication of their 

 value on the municipal markets at the dates stated. The bulk of the 

 produce so disposed of passes through the Johannesburg market, and 

 the prices obtained there may be taken as representative of the larger 

 portion of our locally sold production ; the other centres are also 

 important marketing ones, and the prices ruling there also indicate 

 the state of the produce trade. In the statement hereunder the follow- 

 ing main features are observed : — 



Wheat. — At Johannesburg there was a sharp rise and almost as 

 sharp a decline, the 1920 prices being about double those of 1919, 

 falling in 1921 to very near the 1919 level. Prices at Capetown and 

 Bloemfontein followed the same trend. 



Maize. — This was fetching at Johannesburg 100 per cent, more 

 in 1920 than 1919, but in 1921 prices had receded to about the 1919 

 level with a lower tendency, the maximum 1921 price being Is. 9d. 

 less than that of 1919. This can be applied to the other markets as 

 well, excepting that the rise in price was somewhat greater than at 

 Johannesburg, while 1921 maximum rates were still about 3s. 6d. 

 higher than those of 1919. 



Oats. — Prices in 1920 were about double those of 1919 on the 

 Johannesburg market, and, while 1921 saw a considerable decline, the 

 price was still about 5s. greater than that of 1919. In Capetown there 

 was the same great increase between 1919 and 1920, but this year the 

 prices ruling are at the same level of 1919 ; this applies also to 

 Bloemfontein, excepting that the 1921 price has not quite fallen to 

 che 1919 level. 



Lucerne. — On the Johannesburg market the 1920 price was double 

 that of 1919, while in 1921 it had fallen practically to the 1919 level. 

 The same fluctuation is observed at Bloemfontein, similarly at Cape- 

 town and Durban, though at the two last-named markets the 1921 

 price was still somewhat higher than that of 1919. 



Potatoes. — The 1920 Johannesburg (maximum) price was double 

 that of 1919, and while there was an appreciable decline in 1921, the 

 latter price was still 8s. 6d. in excess of 1919. This is applicable to 

 Capetovv^n also. At Bloemfontein the increase of 1920 over 1919 was 

 much greater, the maximum being almost treble that of 1919, and 

 although 1921 shows a big drop, the price remains almost double that 

 of 1919. At Durban the maximum 1920 price was 24s. in excess of 

 the 1919 maximum, falling only slightly in 1921, when the excess 

 over 1919 was 21s. 



