Meat and butter are Poland's most important agricultural products from the German point of view, though the value of Poland's butter supply is more than outweighed by her own requirements of vegetable and whale oil; Greater Germany's fat position, as a whole, has been made worse through the seizure of Western Poland. In the present crisis there will probably arise the necessity for vast emergency slaughterings of livestock which will have an adverse effect on the country's meat-and butter-producing capacity in the next few years. It is very doubtful, indeed, whether, in these circumstances, Western Poland will be able to make any important contribution to Germany's meat supply, which, before the war, was estimated at about 6 per cent. short of her requirements. It must also be taken into account that there is not the slightest hope of 1 chitivating any appreciable amount of maize in Western Poland, though this is the fodder most needed by Germany.
One of the reasons for present food crisis is that the system of warehouses is inadequate even in the Western provinces of Poland, and it will take a long time to remedy this. Fertilising will soon become difficult absorb the slack in industrial activity resulting from the elimination of France as a buyer. The next day the list advanced from fractions to more than two points to the best levels recorded in more than a month but later easiness prevailed when traders lightened their positions pending the disclosure of the peace terms to France. Some improvement was witnessed at mid-week with mounting Congressional opposition to the recent proposal to limit armament profits to 7 per cent.; however, on Thursday the market moved lower as traders were reluctant to assume fresh commitments because of the European situation.
Commodity prices, according to the Dow-Jones 11 commodity index, were virtually without change. Despite the good technical position of the market and the growing belief that the great shortage of food abroad will provide an outlet for our surpluses later on, wheat futures at Chicago moved lower. Corn ruled independently steady though there was a slight increase in offerings at advances. Cotton prices were prat tically unchanged with observers of the opinion that developments point to the further isolation of exports the loss of export markets can hardly be offset by increased domestic consumption. The chief factors in the rubber market were trade operations and further July covering owing to apprehension over the delay in August/September arrivals because of the Malayan strike and the uncertainty over the East Indian situation. It is reported that within two years synthetic production for the entire needs of the United States is possible. Hides presented a quiet but steady appearance. Sugar futures declined jon small liquidation in an empty market.
Last month United States exports amounted to $316,874,000. The ma-gazing "Iron Age" reports the temporary suspension of steel production for France; also an increase in rail equipment buying with a possibility of this developing into a major programme; and, German steel companies offering steel in South America at prices below American companies with October deliveries guaranteed. Bethlehem Steel has been awarded a favourable verdict in a $25,000,000 lawsuit against the Government. Car loadings for the week ended June 15 are the highest this year. Loadings of New York Central for the week ended June 15, were the largest recorded for any week during the past ten years. The General Motors labour contract increased their. payroll by $8,000,000 annually. An experiment is being made with Nylon parachutes.
Tue Marker br Ticunzs Thursday
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.