CHICAGO RECEIPTS IN MAY ABOUT ONE THIRD BELOW 1943

Dropping 27 percent below the May 1943 total, receipts of fresh and frozen fishery products in the wholesale market in Chicago totaled 5,464,000 pounds in May 1944, according to the Service's Chicago Market News office. This decline was caused by reduced receipts of salt-water fish and shellfish, notably halibut and shrimp. The delay in operations of the halibut fleet on the Pacific Coast and a general shortage of shrimp in the Gulf area were given as factors affecting the supply of these products. Total receipts gained seasonally over April.

During the first five months of 1944, arrivals in Chicago were 11 percent below those of 1943. This is reportedly due to the fact that cold-storage holdings have stayed high at a time when they would normally decline and the possibility that a saturation point may have been reached last year, particularly on "rough" fish. These species, particularly carp, enjoyed unprecedented sales in 1943.

RECEIPTS OF FISHERY PRODUCTS AT SEATTLE SHOW IMPROVEMENT DURING MAY

Seattle's receipts of fresh and frozen fish and shellfish during May increased 80 percent over those received during April, according to the Service's local Market News office. The beginning of the halibut fishery accounted in large measure for this gain after a long fleet tie-up caused by a disagreement on price schedules between the fishermen and OPA. Salmon receipts, while somewhat lighter than those received during May 1943, were considerably heavier than in April. Salmon showed a 14 percent increase for the first 5 months of 1944 over the same period in 1943.

Ground or bottom-fish operations also showed improvement during May. This improvement was due largely to the fact that a number of new boats entered the fleet. New gear and equipment installed on many older boats, wider fishing areas, and longer fishing trips also contributed to greater efficiency of operations and a resultant increase in production.

"Halibut and shark fleets and receipts from local and all other sources.

OPA REVISES HALIBUT PRICE DIFFERENTIALS IN AMDT. 31 TO MPR-418

Fishermen's prices on drawn halibut have been increased by 1 cents per pound, the OPA announced on June 2. The current prices and the new prices in cents per pound for drawn No. 1 halibut (10 to 60 pounds dressed weight) are as follows:

Old Price
New Price

Seattle
14
152

Prince Rupert
12

1324

The new prices, effective June 2, more equitably adjust the differentials that have always existed between the drawn and dressed fish, OPA said.

Prices for halibut heads and cheeks have not been set at this time. However, they will be set after the first catches of halibut arrive in Seattle so that tests can be made of the yield of the edible halibut from the head, the labor costs involved in processing the head, and the relationship between the weight of the head and the weight of the drawn halibut, the OPA said.

The action also raises the prices on all halibut landed at Alaskan ports by cent. This increase was found necessary after a re-examination of the transportation differential between Alaskan ports and Prince Rupert. It was found that the cost of transportation from Ketchikan to Prince Rupert is more nearly than the one cent transportation cost originally used in setting the differential. Thus, the Alaskan prices were raised accordingly. Amendment No. 31 to MPR-418--Fresh Fish and Seafood--became effective June 2, 1944. Excerpts follow:

Maximum Price Regulation No. 418 is amended in the following respects:

1. In section 20, footnote 38 following Table A applicable to Schedule No. 23, Halibut (Hippoglossus hippoglossus) is amended to read as follows:

3 When landed in the following Alaskan ports deduct the following amounts: Ketchikan, 34 cents; Wrangell and Petersburg. 31⁄2 cents; Juneau, Sitka and Pelican City, 3% cents; Port Williams, 44 cents. When landed in any other ports in Alaska, deduct the amount specified for the nearest port listed.

Deduct 22 cents in American currency for
sales of halibut landed on the Pacific Coast
of Canada.

For sales of dressed halibut landed on the
Atlantic Coast add 2 cents.

For sales of round halibut deduct 51⁄2 cents
from the appropriate dressed price.

For sales of drawn halibut deduct 14 cents from the appropriate dressed price.

2. In section 20, footnote 39 following Table B applicable to Schedule No. 23, Halibut (Hippoglossus hippoglossus) is read as follows:

"Deduct the following amounts for sales of steaks processed from halibut landed in the following Alaskan ports: Ketchikan, 4 cents; Wrangell and Petersburg, 4% cents; Juneau, Sitka and Pelican City, 44 cents; Port Williams, 54 cents. For sales of steaks processed from halibut landed in any other port in Alaska, deduct the amount specified for the nearest port listed.

For sales of steaks processed from halibut landed on the Atlantic Coast, add 2 cents. For sales of steaks processed from halibut landed on the Pacific Coast of Canada, deduct 34 cents.

AMDT. 32 TO MPR-418 EFFECTIVE JUNE 17

A nation-wide reduction of one cent in the dollar-and-cents prices for sales of fresh fish and seafood to retailers by primary fish shipper wholesalers and by many service-anddelivery wholesalers, was announced on June 13 by the OPA.

Another reduction which will affect the retailer's price was made in the provisions of the fish regulation limiting conditions under which container allowances may be charged or passed on at all wholesale levels of distribution. This will prevent pyramiding of such

charges, a practice which had developed. The combined actions, effective June 17, 1944, will result in a reduction in consumer prices of from one to three cents per pound.

Also, the price of shrimp is reduced in the action by 1-cents per pound to 3 cents per pound for a cash-and-carry sale by a primary fish shipper, and by 1-cents per pound to 23-cents per pound on sales by a service-and-delivery wholesaler.

These reductions have been made as a result of a reexamination of wholesaler margins which resulted in a more accurate breakdown of types of sales and their appropriate markups. The reductions are effected by specifying a lower table of prices in the wholesale fish regulation under which the primary fish shipper sells to a retailer. Formerly, in such sales, the primary fish shipper used Table D in the regulation. Now he must use only the lower prices, which are contained in Table C, as his prices in such sales.

Table D prices covered all cash-and-carry sales to retailers and purveyors of meals. They now cover such sales by secondary handlers. Table C previously covered only sales by retailer-owned cooperatives and sales by secondary wholesalers to other wholesalers.

In the current action, also, Table E, which sets prices for service and delivery sales, is eliminated from the regulation. Service and delivery sales are broken down into sales to retailers and sales to purveyors of meals. The margin provided in Table E prior to its elimination, was set primarily with reference to sales to purveyors of meals. The cost of service and delivery to a retailer is ordinarily less. Thus, a service and delivery allowance of la-cents per pound is now allowed for port sales and for sales by a primary fish shipper to retailers. One and one-half cents is also allowed for a service and delivery sale to a retailer by a wholesaler who buys at Table B prices. (Table B prices formerly covered sales to wholesalers by primary fish shippers.) This wholesaler ordinarily buys in large quantities and his sales to retailers are in large quantities.

The wholesaler who buys at Table C prices is ordinarily a small volume wholesaler and/or a combination wholesaler and retailer. He is allowed 2-cents per pound on his service and delivery sales to retailers. The service and delivery allowance of 2-cents per pound for sales to purveyors of meals remains unchanged. However, this allowance is further restricted to deliveries from the seller's own motor truck or similar vehicle or such a vehicle used solely for his own deliveries. The allowance cannot be taken where deliveries are pooled

in a truck nor where a cart is used.

Sales in a port area and sales outside a port area are distinguished for the first time in the regulation, with the former now stated as sales made by seller within 50 miles from the place where the fish and seafood have been landed. All port sales of fish by a wholesaler except fillets, must be sold at prices no higher than those in Table B to other wholesalers irrespective of where the purchasing wholesaler is located. Thus, no shipment from a port area to an inland wholesaler can be made at Table C or higher prices. However, OPA Regional Administrators are now empowered to designate a port area with a radius larger than 50 miles, but the Table B prices will still cover sales from this larger area for the above mentioned type of sales.

Further restrictions covered in the action are as follows:

The

(1) Except for sales of shrimp, salmon, and halibut, the branch warehouse of a primary fishshipper may still sell at Table B prices to wholesalers and at Table D prices to retailers. service and delivery allowance for sales to retailers is reduced to 1-cents per pound. The branch warehouse can base its prices to retailers on Table D only when both the sale and delivery is made from the stock of the branch warehouse and the sale is negotiated and made from the branch warehouse. A warehouse can qualify as a primary fish shipper's branch warehouse if the primary fish shipper has two or more employees stationed at the warehouse who are engaged in making sales and performing services solely for the primary fish shipper from such warehouse.

Shrimp, salmon, and halibut, unlike East Coast species, are sent inland in carload lots. Primary fish shippers send carload lots of these species to their branch warehouses. Such branch warehouse sales are usually in large quantities both to wholesalers and retailers. Sales to retailers can therefore be based on Table C.

(2) The container provisions in this regulation are revised to prevent the pyramiding of such charges. In no event, now, can a container allowance be made if the container is returned by the customer to the seller. Also, the container allowance now depends upon the net weight of the fish rather than the amount of fish the container can hold. A seller of fresh fish and seafood can now add a container charge only for the container in which he sells. He cannot pass on a charge for

the container in which he bought his wares and which he owns. This has been currently happening and has resulted in a higher cost of fish to the retailer.

The only exception is a wholesaler who processes fish or seafood into fillets, steaks, or boned fish. He may pass on an amount (not exceeding 3 cents per pound) sufficient to enable him to recover the permitted container allowance he paid. A wholesaler who merely guts or dresses fish is not permitted to pass on a container allowance since he may reuse the container in which he buys.

The box allowance given the fisherman is similarly restricted to those cases where the fisherman actually ships the fish or seafood. This was the original intent of that section of the regulation.

This

The allowance price of one container size has been changed in the regulation. change has been made in the 200-pound container, the price of which is now 5/8 cent per pound. The previous allowance price was 3/4 cent per pound. This change is consistent with the general plan for container allowances in the regulation.

(3) For the purposes of transportation charges by importers, Boston is established as a port from which a substantial volume of cod, haddock, pollock, hake, cusk, yellowtail, blackback, lemon sole, gray sole, sea dab, and rosefish is shipped. Boston and nearby ports are the major production centers for these species. An importer of these species cannot now add transportation in excess of transportation from Boston.

However, where the transportation from Boston for these species exceeds (a) the actual transportation costs from the seller's shipping point to the importer's receiving point or (b) the actual cost of the transportation to the importer's receiving point from the point at which the fish or seafood entered the United States, or, the carload rail rate from the point in the United States nearest the foreign shipper's shipping point, the importer must use as the transportation allowance whichever of these alternatives is lowest.

(4) The regulation as now amended redefines a primary fish shipper sale and other types of sales. This action makes explicit that the maximum price is established by reference to the particular sale rather than the class of the seller. The particular type of sale is now tied to the classification of the person to whom the fish or seafood is sold.

A wholesaler is thus defined as a person who buys fresh fish and seafood and resells 20 percent or more of such fish or seafood. to persons other than ultimate consumers. A retailer is defined as a person other than a purveyor of meals who buys fresh fish and seafood and resells more than 80 percent of such fish or seafood to ultimate consumers. Sales by a retailer-owned cooperative still depend, however, on the type and classification of the seller. A pricing on the basis of the type of sale involved and the classification of the buyer accomplishes the same result as the former Section 5 (a) in the regulation, which stated that regardless of the classification of a wholesaler, his maximum price depended on the particular type of sale involved. This section is therefore eliminated in this amendment.

The current action also clarifies the method of setting prices for halibut, An importer's buying price for halibut is explicitly restricted to the Table A or B price. This will prevent the multiplication of mark-ups at Canadian ports.

The term "grade" as used in the invoice provision of the regulation is defined to mean a qualification of the species in the regulation that is, "seine caught" and "troll caught" in the salmon schedules. This makes explicit the requirement that such qualifications must be stated on the invoice where they are a factor in the maximum price.

The action also exempts Canadian lake fish caught in international waters from price control until the American production from the same waters is placed under control.

Regional OPA administrators are given the power to modify the invoice requirements in accordance with local marketing conditions.

The differential between California ports and Seattle and Astoria, Washington, has been abolished for troll caught chinook, king and silver salmon. This increases the prices for these species landed in California ports by 1 cents. It conforms with an earlier action establishing differentials for specific California ports.

Amendment 32 to MPR-418--Fresh Fish and Seafood--became effective June 17, 1944. Excerpts follow: