24 



BULLETIN 776, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The movement into storage was so slow that by the first of 

 May less than 30 per cent of the season's holdings had been 

 stored instead of the 41 per cent of the previous season and 

 the 49.5 per cent of the ten-year average of the Associated 

 Warehouses. This 30 per cent was stored at an average cost 

 of more than 35 cents per dozen. The 43 per cent stored 

 during May cost 36.6 cents per dozen. The average cost as 

 shown in Table 27 for the total holdings- of 6,602,711 cases 

 was 35.6 cents or a total cost of $70,560,532. 



Table 27. — Cost of "storage packed firsts" case eggs placed in cold storage 

 during season 1917-1918 if bought at New York market prices. 



Date. 



March 



April 



May 



June 1-15. . 

 June 16-30. 

 July 



Total. 



Percent- 

 age of 

 total 

 holdings. 



Per cent. 



2.8 

 26.7 

 43.0 

 13.2 

 11.5 



2.8 



100.0 



Moved into 

 storage. 



Dozens 

 5,546,277 

 52,887,715 

 85,174,972 

 26,146,736 

 22,779,353 

 5,546,277 



198,081,330 



Price 



per 



dozen. 



Cents. 

 33.2 

 35.3 

 36.6 

 35.0 

 33.9 

 36.1 



35.6 



Cost. 



Dollars. 

 1,841,364 

 18,669,363 

 31,174,040 

 9,151,358 

 7,722,201 

 2,002,206 



$70,560,532 



Table 28 shows the daily quotations also compiled from the 

 Producers' Price-Current of "refrigerator firsts," storage and 

 insurance paid, on the New York market from August 6, 1917, 

 to February 17, 1918, inclusive. 



It will be observed that the distribution of the season's hold- 

 ings began at 35 cents per dozen on August 6, the average 

 price during the month being 36.8 cents. The average price 

 rose to 38.7 cents in September, and then gradually dropped 

 until December 1. The average during the latter half of No- 

 vember was only 33.3 cents. The severe winter caused a 

 shortage in the fresh stock, resulting in a rise in price in the 

 storage stock, and the average price during December was 37 

 cents and during January 44 cents. On January 10 and 12 

 the Food Administration wired the exchanges placing certain 

 restrictions on the advance in prices. After January 17 there 

 were no formal quotations, but the trade generally interpreted 

 the attitude of the Food Administrator as authorizing the dis- 

 tribution of the remaining storage stocks at approximately 48 

 cents. 



