MARKETS 157 



Sweetened condensed milk, packed in hermetically sealed 

 cans, sells from about $3.25 to $5 per case of 48 sixteen-ounce 

 cans and the cans retail at from 5 to 20 cents each, according to 

 the size of the cans and market conditions. 



Evaporated milk, unsweetened condensed milk in hermetic- 

 ally sealed cans, sells from $2.25 to $4.00 per case, according to 

 the size of the cans and market conditions. 



Bulk milk, both sweetened and unsweetened, goes direct 

 from the manufacturer to the purchaser who uses it at prices 

 agreed upon by the contracting parties. The sweetened con- 

 densed milk is sold in barrels holding from three hundred to 

 seven hundred pounds (usually about six hundred pounds) to 

 candy and caramel factories, bakeries and confectioners. The 

 price varies from four to ten cents per pound according to the 

 per cent, of fat, demand und supply. When there is a general 

 "epidemic" of bad canned condensed milk, as is often the case in 

 years when the price of sugar is high, due to failure of the sugar 

 cane crop, and many manufacturers are tempted to use inferior 

 cane sugar, which they buy at a comparatively low cost, this 

 spoiled condensed milk is usually turned into candy shops and 

 bakeries, where it is sold for "a song." This condition has 

 always a depressing influence on the price of sweetened con- 

 densed bulk milk, which, during such seasons, may have to be 

 sold at a loss. Some milk condensing concerns operate their own 

 candy shops which take care of the condensed milk that is re- 

 jected on the market. 



Plain or unsweetened condensed milk is sold in 1 -gallon to 

 10-gallon cans to ice cream factories, the price varying from 

 twenty-five to ninety cents per gallon, according to fat content, 

 concentration and market conditions. The market for this class 

 of goods is not very constant, but the profits are generally high. 

 It reaches ebbtide in winter when the demand for ice cream is 

 small. Limited quantities of plain condensed bulk milk are also 

 sold in milk and cream bottles for direct consumption. The 

 concentrated milk finds the same markets as the plain con- 

 densed bulk milk. 



The above range of prices of the several types of condensed 

 milk refers to the market conditions which prevailed while the 

 industry was protected against competition with goods from 



