single-strength juices were tomato, apple, 
grape, orange, lemon, and grapefruit. Con- 
centrates included grape, orange, lemon, and 
grapefruit. 
Bottling, performed by 16 percent of the 
cooperatives, was primarily used for cran- 
berries, olives, applesauce, and pickles. Some 
wineries bottled their own wine, brandies, and 
champagne. 
Drying operations were reported for raisins, 
currants, apples, and potatoes only, and in- 
volved 10 percent of the cooperatives. 
Other activities carried out by 33 percent 
of the processors included some fresh packing, 
pickling, brining, and producing tomato crys- 
tals, bulk wine, and industrial products such 
as citric acid extracts, 
Volume and Types of Containers Purchased 
The actual dollar value of containers and 
packaging supplies purchased by individual 
cooperatives varied considerably. This can 
be attributed to the wide range in size of 
operations; type of processing; type and size 
of container used, such as tin, glass, or card- 
board; and type of labels used. 
Purchases in 1965 
Sixty-eight of the 76 cooperatives reported 
total purchases of $89.1 million in 1965 (table 
3). These costs were equal to about 36 per- 
cent of these cooperatives' total processing 
costs (exclusive of products), and to 22 percent 
of the sales value of the products they marketed. 
By applying this 22 percent ratio of container 
costs to product sales to the other 8 coopera- 
tives--most with large volumes--container 
purchases for these 8 associations were esti- 
mated at $55 million, or $6,875,000 per as- 
sociation. Thus, the 76 cooperatives in the 
study had total purchases of about$144 million 
in 1965, or an average of $1.9 million per or- 
ganization. ? 
Purchases of containers ranged from less 
that $5,000 to more than $20 million, with 
an average of approximately $1,340,000 per 
2 The estimated purchases of containers and pack- 
aging supplies by all 115 processing cooperatives in the 
United States was about $160 million in 1965, This esti- 
mate is based on the assumption that their purchases 
were equal to about 22 percent of the $725 million worth 
of products they sold that year, 
cooperative for the 68 cooperatives reporting 
(table 3), In addition, cooperatives contacted 
through personal interview reported an aver= 
age expenditure of $76,000 for other packaging 
supplies, mostly labels. 
As expected, metal cans, accounting for 68 
percent of the total expenditure, represented 
the largest share; the average purchase bythe 
40 cooperatives using metal cans was approxi- 
mately $1.5 million. 
Paperboard boxes represented 19 percent of 
the total volume, with an average of about 
$334,000 per cooperative. Purchases of glass 
containers represented only 7 percent of the 
total volume, and averaged $390,000 per year 
per cooperative. 
Twenty-five percent of the reporting coop- 
eratives purchased $1 million or more of the 
various types of containers (table 4), Some 
cooperatives in this group reported purchases 
as high as $20 million. These cooperatives 
were usually able to take advantage of their 
size in negotiating with manufacturers, ob- 
taining quantity discounts, and demanding and 
receiving excellent service from their sup- 
pliers, Cooperatives in this group normally 
centralized their buying of containers for 
more than one processing plant. 
Seventy-three percent of the cooperatives 
purchasing metal cans made annual purchases 
of $100,000 or more, with 33 percent purchas- 
ing $1 million or more. 
