1908.] 



Corn Markets in November. 



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governing the quotation. American flour is dearer on the month, the best 

 grades of Minnesota and Wisconsin mills commanding 32s. 6d. These are 

 spring patents. Fine American flour from winter wheat may perhaps be 

 averaged at 30?. per sack. Argentina is shipping a small quantity of feeding 

 flour at i8j\ 6d. per sack, but the good quality types, named after heathen 

 deities, which amused (but also, to some little extent, alarmed) English 

 millers some three years ago, do not seem to be quoted or obtainable. 



Barley. — The average price of English barley for the thirteen completed 

 weeks of the cereal year is 26s. lid. per 400 lb., a price showing yd. advance 

 on last season. In London a very low average — 25^.5//. — was quoted late 

 in November, the sales of damaged and sprouted corn sometimes come in 

 in bulk and temporarily depress the average. Fine malting barley is and 

 has been in steady request at a good price. Some magnificent samples, 

 practically unsurpassable, in fact, have been shown on the Old Corn Exchange 

 from Bohemia and Austria. They fetch 42^., 44^. and even 46-f. per 448 lb. 

 Of course, there is no great bulk of supply behind them, but we are in 

 a position to mention sales of quantities up to 500 qrs. Few English 

 samples fetch over 38s. this season, but we have seen one lot at 41.?., and 

 have heard of a few others at 40.?. per 448 lb. The great supplies of cheap 

 feeding barley from Russia continue to be a feature- of autumn trade, and 

 Russia, in November, shipped 1,641,000 qrs. The ice, however, is now 

 closing round some of the chief ports, and it may be noted that for December 

 1907, the shipments from Russia did not exceed 606,000 qrs. Barley meal 

 has been a fairly steady sale of late, 8s. per cwt. being an usual price, though 

 where a ton is bought seven guineas may be given as about what is required 

 to be paid. 



Oats. — The average price of English oats for the thirteen completed 

 weeks of the cereal year has been 17^. \\d. per 312 lb. as compared 

 with i8r. id. last season. This fall of rather over is. per qr. has 

 discouraged farmers who have reduced their market deliveries very 

 materially in consequence. The crop of 1908 is smaller than that of 1907 

 but the reduction in the market deliveries is larger in proportion. The 

 most promising sign at Mark Lane on the 23rd and 30th* was the demand 

 for seed oats for early spring sowing. This looks as if the low currencies 

 were not causing any permanent discouragement. Good 336-lb. oats make 

 a guinea both in London and East Anglia, where the variety is named and 

 the condition dry and fit, but in the west and south-west very poor prices 

 rule, 2s. to 2s. 2d. per bushel at Okehampton on the 21st, 16s. 8d. per 

 312 lb. at so important a market as Chelmsford, also near the close of the 

 month, by which time farmers had been hoping for a rise. The mild and 

 muggy weather has probably been more against the sale of this than of any 

 other cereal. The 304-lb. foreign sorts compete with each other at a level 

 of 15^. 6d. to 16^., or thereabouts, while of imported oats which are to be 

 considered among quality samples, one may name 320-lb. Konigsberg at 18.9. 

 to 19s., and Chilian of the same weight at 205-. to 20s. 6d. New Zealand and 

 heavy oats do not seem to be on offer, yet they sell without delay on account 

 and often command as much as 24s. per qr. 



Maize. — The markets remain limited in their choice to Argentine and 

 south-east European types. Here and there a sample of South African at 

 29-y. 6d. per qr. is to be met with, but British African Possessions have 

 only recently attempted to grow maize for the London market. The very 

 favourable reception accorded to the samples, especially by poultry-keepers 



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