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'l^jLitjfo^v^ Cooperative Extension Work in Agriculture arid Home Econcmics 

 «o^^ University of Illinois College of Agriculture, Urbana, Illinoie, 

 j ^ r and U. S. Department of Agriculture cooperating 



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WEEKLY REVTBW AND FARM OUTLOdC LETTER 



By G. L. Jordan 

 Professor, Agricultural Economics 

 University of Illinois 

 College of Agriculture .i ; ;) (944 



(Mt L!f!hAI>'Y Oy 'i- 



(Prepared January 6) ''^"'''•'^• 



f-r II I i"MtQ 



The congestion in the ho£ trade exceeds all previous records. Heavy dis- 

 counts continue to be taken on light weignts. Most good lUO-to l60-pound hoge sold 

 at $10.60 to $11.35. Soldiers from Fort Sheridan vere brought into Chicago packing 

 plants and cold storage houses- to help handle the huge meat supply. The soldiers 

 were riven work furloughs and were paid at prevailing wage scales. 



For the week ending December I8, the Food Distribution Administration con-^' 

 tinued the heavy purchases of meat products. Purchases of frozen beef Jumped to more 

 than 3 million pounds; frozen veal, l.k million pounds; frozen mutton, 2.7 million 

 pounds; lard and refined pork fat, hk.^ million pounds; canned pork products, 10. 9 

 million pounds; hog aides, k.k million pounds; pork loin, 3.7 million pounds; and 

 cured pork products, 22.7 million pounds. 



Ceilings were placed on hard wheat for the first tine Tuesday, January h. 

 At the same time maximum prices for soft wheat were raised. The new ceilings on 

 hard wheat will reflect 100 percent of parity and are effective immediately. The 

 basic' formula prices, exclusive of commission man's charge, are $1.71 3/^ ^it Chicago 

 and St. Louis for soft wheat, $1.71 3/8 at Chicago for hard wheat; and $1.68 7/8 at 

 St. Louis for hard wheat. 



The trade reports that county shippers have sold a very substantial amount 

 of com in the past few days, although they have not been able to ship all this corn 

 to market. It is anticipated that as soon as the moisture content of corn declines 

 to 20 percent or less the farmers will market corn rather freely. The .covernment 

 announced the purchase of 100 million bushels of wheat for feed from Canada. How- 

 ever, the supply of all feed grains per animal unit is so much below last year that 

 there caould be no serious danger of com prices declining below the ceiling level. 



In spite of the fact that there are enormous stocks of wool in storage in 

 the Uixlted States, and the fact that government orders for foods specifying the use 

 of domestic wools have slowed down somewhat, it is anticipated that the price of wool 

 this spring will be sustained by purchases for government account at the same level 

 as last year. Domestic mills are consuming as much wool as their capacity permits, 

 and manj^- of them will find an increase in the domestic demand for woolen good? at 

 the cloee of the war. However, world stocks of wool are large, and ve may find the 

 urge to liquidate these stocks so great that the price will decline after the war in 

 spite of the anticipated heavy domestic demand for woolen goods. 



The Department of Commerce announced that the total value of exports from 

 the United States d'uring the 19^3 calendar year will be the largest ever recorded 

 in the country's history. Exports for the first 11 months were in excess of 11 bil- 

 lion dollars. That was 59 percent above the corresponding 11 months total for 19^2. 



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