New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-01-12
REVIEW OF THE
CROP MARKETS
Wheat Weak-Drop in Corn
Cotton Higher-Coffee
Loses Gains.

While stronger markets in Europe and
| Northwestern points have helped the
local wheat market In the last week, II
has been In the main unsettled, with
dealers disinclned TO take active meas
ures on either side. The changes in
prices have been small and inconsequen-
| tiaI. and much of the time trading has
been Iistless sharp falling Oft In re-
ceipts at Winnipeg helped TO check a de-
| cline, aided by light domestic receipts
I and q liberal distribution into consumptive
channels. There have been liberal clear
ances OF wheat and -four from the Al
lan.ic seaboard, and the net result or the
weeks operations is a general opinion
that prices now are down about as low
| as growers can afford to 20, not only
here, but I'm other producing countries.
| They are now very close TO an export
level. and the fact that the United
States is exporting wheat and importing
corn is taken to show that any decline
| i'm wheat In consequence OF lower corn
prices is not warranted. striking ex-
ample of the effect OF the Balkan war Is
shown In the Bulgarian and Rumahlan
harvest last summer Of only 4o,Oc'oo
bushels, against 100000 in the previous
year and 100000 in 1911.
Weakness in corn was so pronounced
that tired longs, in their anxiety 10 UNI
load, gave short sellers good chance 10
hammer the market. and II was taken
advantage OF, with big elevator and spot
houses among the sellers and stop-loss
orders uncovered on the scale down The
development OF the Argentine corn fields
has caused marked change in American
conditions. With fifteen ships either al
sea or loading at Argentina for American
ports. more than million bushels re-
ceived early I'm the week and New York
utterly unable to handle the volume Of
corn here and coming, the railroads nave
an entirely new problem TO solve In the
way Of distribution and westbound rates.
The free offerings Of Argentina Tor April
and May shipment have naturally MADE
local buyers rather cautious. There was
rally In the late trading. after steady
drop of five days, but the recovery was
not enough TO overcome the decline, and
prices for futures closed the week ABOUT
three cents below the start
oats also have declined. having touched
, the lowest point of the season, with the
pressure of Canadian supplies a feature
Of the trading The market has not at
tracted much attention, having been over
shadowed by the Importance or the
changes in the corn situation.
That the Census Bureaus ginning re-
n
ton trade was shown by the sharp adj
vance which followed the declines OF ear
lier in the week. carrying March, May
and July we'll over the 12-cent line. Ques-
tons and speculations as to now much
the crop would be, based on the ginning
returns. have kept the trade on edge ror
some time, and as Southern selling ana
heavy LIQUIDATION had taken place on the
strength of bearish reports from Mem
nbls and Atlanta news bureaus. there
was naturally a scramble for cotton when
the official figures were In such strong OPP
| position to The private reports. Untll the
next two reports are out 1t VIII be impos-
sibIe to get a line on how much the gov
| eminent underestimate the crop IN the
report OF December IL, but the estimate
| of 10000 bales appears to be close 70 the
mark. One point Of the ginning fgures Is
that they show considerable cotton held
back in the South when compared with
the into sight figures. At the present
range there has been a recovery or ABOUT
80 points from the low of last Tuesday.
and while there is an ample supply In
sight for the worlds spindles. there is
possibility that bullish activity may
cause a further advance. The total crop,
including inters, is now estimated az A.
10000 bales, which will make the three
last crops the greatest on record In sue
cession. and foreign crops are reckoned
as being larger than they were last year.
Against these figures the worlds con-
sumption last year was 100000 bales, In
time of great prosperity.
The coffee market apparently started
out to repeat the changes 1t went through
several times last year, climbing up
steadily for four days and then. in the
last two days Of the week. slumpins
back. sometimes beyond the starting