Evening star., 1925-01-27
DEMAND IS GREAT
FOR CANNED GOODS
Shortage in Some Lines Now
RepOrted-1925 Sales
Making Record.
BY J. G. ROYLE.

ID -. ~. tto LIE.
Special Dispatch TO The Star.
NEW YORK, January 27.-Grocery
cash registers will Jingle to the tune
of over $S0O,0OO,O0O for sales of can
ned and preserved foods in 1925 and IT
is possible that the total canned
goods production this year will ap-
proach a billion dollars in value. De-
mand for canned goods has increased
over 40 per cent in the last four
years. Prices are high and likely to
go higher according to leaders in the
industry now gathered at Cincinnati
for the annual meeting of the Ma
tional Gamers Association.
Shortage in Canned Corn.
a serious shortage exists in many
lines of canned fruits and vegetab bles.
The Carry-over from 1924 was small
and there is a likelihood that the re-
mainder of last years pack viii be
consumed before the 1925 production
is ready for market The stocks Of
canned corn are being cleaned up
rapidly. Even now it is almost inn
possible to obtain standard corn,
there is only d limited quantity of
fancy GRADES on the market. and
prices are higher than last summer.
The tomato pack was very meager
last year in some sections and prices
are making contracts with growers
at an advance over last season and
this additional cost undoubtedly will
be passed on to the consumer. As
result Of the shortage in other canned
vegetables. the supplies of peas are
moving with extraordinary activity.
Canned sweet potatoes already have
passed out of the hands Of the
packers and prices are 10 cents
a sT-.. s1.,-
advances are noticeable in lima
beans.
Many Fruits Cleaned Up.
Shortage has extended particularly
TO apricots and pears on the Pacific
coast, while Canneries in that section
report other fruits well cleaned up
and domestic demand excellent. Ex-
ports have been better than ever be-
fore in the past year. The United
Kingdom has been the heaviest buyer
and this movement has been encour-
aged recently by the bettering of the
English financial position and the ad-
vance in sterling exchange. The other
European countries are not yet in
position to buy freely and have not
acquired the desire for preserved
foods to the same extent as Great
Britain. There has been a marked
Improvement in the demand from
the Orient. however, and Japan is
buying jelIies and jams briskly.
The size of the fruit and vegetable
packs for 1925 will be determined to
large extent by the weather condi-
tions of the next few weeks. The ex-
rreme temperatures of the Winter
have done some damage to early vege-
tables in some of the warmer sections,
but prospects for fruit seem excellent
at this time. With favorable weather
the fruit crops Of many districts are
likely to be the largest ever known.
Canning Costs Higher.
Whether they are large or small,
there seems no indication that prices
Will decline before the new packs
come on the market. Costs Of can
Rers in some commodities have ad-
vanced. Can and tin plate prices
have advanced and can companies are
pressing production to meet the re-
quirements of their customers
This additional expense will be off
set to some extent by the low price
Of sugar and the prospect that, with
d record breaking Cuban crop. quo
tations for that commodity Will be
steady throughout the year.
The advance in prices as compared
with last year is not expected to
check American consumption of the
202 articles of food now being can
ned. Consumers in this country have
got firmly into the habit OF buying
and eating canned or preserved foods
and are willing to pay for them, but
packers realize that should the cost
70 the consumer advance too far,
there is always the competition to the
housewife to be considered and that
she can and viii 90 her own preserv-
ing.