26 



BULLETIN 776, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



It is believed that so "much of the 200,000 cases remaining 

 on February 1 as were placed on the market sold at about 

 that price. Table 29 shows the value of the monthly decreases 

 in holdings based on the New York market prices. 



Table 29. — Seliing price of "refrigerator firsts" case eggs delivered from 

 cold storage during season 1917-1918 if sold at New York market 

 prices. 



Date. 



Percent- 

 age of 

 total 

 holdings. 



Moved out 

 of storage. 



Price 



per 



dozen. 



Selling 

 price. 



August 



September 



October 



November 1-15.. 

 November 16-30. 

 December 1-15, . 

 December 16-30. 



January 



February 



Total. 



Per cent. 



8.4 



8.4 

 16.4 

 11.8 

 13.2 

 12.6 

 12.1 

 15.0 



2.1 



100.0 



Dozens. 

 16,638,832 

 16,638,832 

 32,485,337 

 23.373,597 

 26,146,736 

 24,958,248 

 23,967,841 

 29,712.199 



4,159,708 



Cents. 



36.8 



3&.7 



se^^i 



34.1 

 33.3 

 34.9 

 39.1 

 44.0 

 48.0 



198,081,330 



37.4 



Dollars. 



6,123,090 



6,439,228 



11,727,207 

 7,970,397 

 8,706,863 

 8,710,429 

 9,371,426 



13,073,368 

 1,996,660 



$74,118,668 



The average selling price thus obtained was 37.4 cents per 

 dozen and the total sales value $74,118,668. This shows a 

 gross profit of 1.8 cents per dozen or $3,558,136. If allow- 

 ance of 4 cents per dozen is made as covering storage, insur- 

 ance and shrinkage for the season, (the figure commonly 

 accepted in the trade), there would appear to have been a net 

 loss of 2.2 cents per dozen or $4,365,117, aside from the inter- 

 est on the investment. 



The holdings of the season 1916-1917 proved a very profit- 

 able investment. The 6,060,129 cases held that season were 

 stored at an average price of 23.44 cents, a total cost of $42,- 

 610,154, and sold at an average price of 32.98 cents, or $59,- 

 956,025, a gross profit of 9.54 cents or $17,345,871. The actual 

 profit after deducting 4 cents a dozen for storage, insurance 

 and shrinkage, amounted to 5.54 cents a dozen or $10,073,716, 

 from which must be deducted the interest on the investment 

 to secure the net profit. 



In the season of 1915-1916, 6,084,529 cases were placed in 

 cold storage at an average price of 20.82 cents or a total cost 

 of $38,003,968. They were sold at 23.41 cents or $42,740,045 

 with an apparent profit of 2.59 cents per dozen, but an actual 

 net loss of 1.41 cents or $2,565,358 and interest, if an allow- 

 ance of 4 cents per dozen be made for storage, insurance and 

 shrinkage. Figure 8 shows the average weekly prices on the 

 New York Market for the last three seasons and figure 9 shows 

 the comparative prices of "refrigerator firsts" and "fresh 

 firsts" for the time of distribution of the 1917-1918 storage 

 stocks. 



Figure 10 shows the comparative New York and Chicago 

 "storage firsts" and prices for 'Refrigerator firsts" during the 

 1917-1918 season. The Chicago prices are taken from the 

 Daily Trade Bulletin. 



