About half the wheat produced in Great Britain is grown in the eastern counties, and it is in these counties that the most impor tant markets for this grain are to be found. In 1926 over 23,000 tons of British wheat were sold on the Norwich market, and nearly as much in Lincoln, while about 37,000 tons were sold at Hull. From io,000 to 15,00o tons were sold at each of the following towns in the eastern counties : Cambridge, Chelmsford, Colchester, Boston, Spalding, Peterborough and Ipswich. Sales in London totalled 24,000 tons, and in Bristol and Manchester rather over 20,000 tons. Leeds and Salisbury were the only other towns in the country at which as much as io,000 tons of British wheat were sold.
The quantity of wheat imported is approximately 5,000,000 tons per annum, to the value of about i6o,000,000 sterling. The imports in the five years 1922-26 were practically the same in quantity as in the ten years before the World War, when their value averaged £40,000,000 sterling per annum. Forty years earlier, in the 'sixties of the i9th century, imports of wheat were only about 1,500,000 tons, so that they were increased more than threefold during that period.
Of the total imports of wheat into Britain about one-half comes from Empire countries, Canada being now the chief source of supply within the empire. More wheat is received from the
United States than any other non-British country, so that North America supplies 6o% of the total imports. In the five years 1922-26 imports from Empire countries averaged 2,481,000 tons per annum, Canada furnishing over 6o% of this quantity, Australia about 23% and India about 13%. In the same period imports from other countries averaged 2,593,00o tons, of which the United States supplied 6o% and Argentina 34%, with Ger many and Russia the next most important suppliers. These last two countries sent rather over ioo,000 tons each in 1926.
Since immediately before the World War there has not been any very appreciable change in the proportion of the total British imports obtained from the Empire and other coun tries, respectively, but there have been appreciable changes in the proportions obtained from individual countries. In the five years 1909-13 the average annual imports from India were larger than from any other country, but in 1922-26 India took only the fifth place, supplies from that country having declined by two-thirds. Supplies from both Canada and the United States, on the other hand, have increased by about two-thirds, while Russia, which in 1909-13 supplied about 25% of the total imports, in 1922-26 furnished less than 2%.
The average annual British imports of wheat have been as follows :— The trade in wheat is worldwide, prices in practically all coun tries being affected as much by the total world supplies as by the yields of local crops. In the latter half of the year the trade is chiefly influenced by the yields or prospective yields in Europe and North America, whereas in the early months of the year the crops of Argentina and Australia have an important effect on the trade. It is to be remembered that the trade is worldwide ; that in every month of the year wheat is being harvested in some part of the globe; and that in very many countries wheat is sown in the autumn, so that the crop is subject to the good and bad in fluences of weather for long periods. For these reasons prices fluctuate daily according to the reports received on the markets regarding the changing prospects of the yields and the actual re sults of the harvests in different countries. Important changes in price levels, however, most often take place in the British sum mer and early autumn, when the crops of the northern hemisphere, which produces much the larger proportion of the world's yield, are being harvested. (H. C. L.; J. R. B.)