dinary demand for breadstuffs, and the consequent elevation in prices brought forth from our well filled granaries not only the abundant product of the then current year, but also the hoarded surplus of previous seasons. It was thus that our receipts here, as well as at the other shipping ports of the country, suddenly rose to double those of the year immediately preceding and to an amount many fold greater than those of any previous year. The very thorough manner in which the west gave up her supplies in 1846-7, and the comparatively limited foreign demand during the past season, have carried back our receipts of breadstuffs to less than one half what they were last year. Thus our arrivals of FLOUR are 706,958 barrels, against 1,617,675 barrels last year; of INDIAN CORN equal to 3,600,000 bushels, against 7,065,000 bushels last year; of WHEAT equal to 300,000 bushels, against 1,670,000 last year; of CORN MEAL, 47,543 barrels, against 88,159 barrels last year. The exports show a corresponding reduction. The total exports of FLOUR amount to 472,519 barrels, against 1, 319,506 barrels last year. Of this quantity 15,416 have been sent to Great Britain and Ireland, 88,676 to the West Indies, &c. and the remainder to coastwise ports. Of INDIAN CORN, the total exports are equal to 3,059,000 bushels, against 6,303,000 bushels last year. Of this quantity 1,360,000 bushels have been shipped to Great Britain and Ireland, 173,000 to the West Indies, &c. and the remainder to coastwise ports. Of WHEAT there have been exported to foreign ports barely 35,000 bushels-nearly all of which was to Great Britain-the bulk of the receipts being shipped to the North, and a portion consumed in our city mills. According to a table published in the New York Shipping and Commercial List the comparative exports of breadstuffs from the various ports of the United States to Great Britain and Ireland, from September 1st to August 1st in the two past years, stood as follows: The speculative mania of the previous year having subsided, there has of course been more steadiness in prices, and the following figures exhibit the extreme fluctuations of the season in this market :-FlourOhio to the best St Louis City Mills-lowest point August, $3 87 a $4 25; highest point January, $5 50 a $6 per bbl. Indian Cornlowest point May, 23 a 30 cents; highest point December, 58 a 65 cents per bushel, in sacks. Wheat, lowest point August, 62 a 75; highest point November, $1 12 per bushel, in barrels and sacks. It is understood that the crops throughout the country generally are abundant; and as the foreign demand is scarcely likely to exceed that of last year there seems a strong probability that prices for the coming year will rule at a rather low average. The trade in PROVISIONS, particularly Pork and Lard, has been more extensive than last year, there having been a considerable increase in the supplies as will be seen by reference to our tables. Our space will not permit us to follow these articles in their various fluctuations, and we must therefore content ourselves with noting the extreme rates of the season, which have been as follows: PORK, Mess, highest point Sept. 11th, $14 75 a $15; lowest point April 26th, $8 a $8 12; Prime, highest point September 11th, $12 50 a $12 75; lowest point, Dec. 22nd, $6 50 a $7 per bbl. LARD, highest point Sept. 18th, 11 a 15; lowest point April 26th, 3 a 5 cents per Ib. The total exports (all packages being reduced to kegs,) are equal to 1,395,496 kegs, against 907,977 kegs last year; and the exports foreign are 546,010 kegs, against 437,746 kegs last year; or an increase of 108,294 kegs. Other articles, of more or less importance, claim some notice under this head, but our limited space admonishes us that we must pass on to a review of other leading commodities. Hemp. In our last annual report we stated that our information respecting the then growing crop, led us to the conclusion that the supply would be much less than during the previous season, as the crop in Kentucky did not promise well, and there was likely to be a material falling off in the arrivals from Missouri, owing to the fact that a considerable portion of the receipts of last year, was made up of parts of several crops, which had been detained from market by low waters, &c., in previous seasons. The result shows a much larger deficiency than we anticipated, the receipts since 1st September last to this date, being only 21,584 bales, against 60,238 bales last year; or a decrease of 38,654 bales. There was quite a large stock remaining over at the opening of the season, which had been detained by the high rates of freight, and thus the exports of the past year considerably exceed the receipts, being 27,240 bales. Of this quantity all has been sent to the Northern ports, except 224 bales to London and 14 bales to Bordeaux. The great deficiency in the receipts has of course had its influence upon prices, and the first sale of good dew-rotted was in the early part of September, at $120 per ton. This price was claimed for all the lots arriving for a period of several months, but finding no purchasers they were sent forward. Indeed very few sales have been made here this season, owing to higher limits than buyers were willing to pay, and nearly the whole receipts have been forwarded to the North, on account of the Western dealers. The highest point of the market was that above noticed, and the lowest about the middle of May, when a lot of about 300 bales dew-rotted was sold at $82 50 per ton. The comparative receipts, and average prices, for a series of years, will be shown by the following table. With regard to the coming season's supply, we observe that the crops of the West are said not to promise well, particularly in Kentucky, and as the latter State does not produce enough for her Bagging and Rope manufactories, but draws a considerable portion of her supplies for this purpose from Missouri, there does not seem likely to be any considerable increase in the quantity to come forward for the Atlantic markets. Lead. The receipts this year are 606,966 pigs, against 650,129 pigs last year; showing a decrease of 43,163 pigs. The exports are 594,829 pigs, all of which, with the exception of the trifling amount of 1755 pigs, has been sent to the North. The sales here have been comparatively limited, the great bulk of the receipts having been forwarded on Western account. The extreme prices were, in January $4 25, in June $3 37 per 100 pounds. Exchange. This department of our market has again been subject to extraordinary fluctuations during the past season, and from causes wholly different in their character from those which were brought to act upon it in the course of the year previous. Then the extremes for Sterling were 9 per cent. premium to par, the greatest depression being caused by the excessive supply of bills, which were based upon extensive shipments of breadstuffs, in addition to our other leading export staples. During the past season the course of foreign Exchanges has been totally deranged, first by the almost entire prostration of credit throughout Great Britain, and many parts of the Continent, and subsequently by the revolutionary movements in France, and nearly all the other countries of Europe. The effect of this state of things was to produce extraordinary extremes, and thus there were periods when the great majority of drawers of Sterling could not dispose of bills at any rate; others could negotiate to a limited extent at par to 1 a 2 per cent. premium, while at the same time some few parties, whose strength of position placed them above any probable contingency, readily obtained 8 a 10 per cent. premium from those who were compelled to make remittances. In regard to France, and many other parts of the Continent, so complete has been the prostration of commercial credit, that since the first news of the revolution there can hardly be said to have been a market for Exchanges on those countries. Our space will not permit us to follow the fluctuations of the market, as they occurred, and we must content ourselves with noting the extreme rates, which were as follows: Sterling 8 a 10 per cent. premium, and par a 10 per cent. premium, the former in January and the latter in May, under the circumstances explained above. Francs have fluctuated between 5f. 50 and 5f 15 per dollar, the lowest in November, and the highest for occasional small sums as remittances, within the past two or three months. Domestic Exchange has been more steady, and generally in fair demand, the extreme rates of the season being as follows: New York sixty day bills a 3 per cent. discount. The former in October and May, the latter in July; Sight Checks 2 per cent. discount in November, 14 per cent. premium in April. Comparative Rates of Exchange on London, Paris and New York, on the first of each month, for three years past. (60 day bills.) Imports of Specie, for four years, from 1st September, to 31st August. Comparative Prices of Flour, on the first of each month, for five years. MESS. Dollars. Comparative Prices of Mess and Prime Pork, on the first of each month, 13 a 132 12 a 122 12 a 12/ 11 a 83 a 81 6a 62 9 a 9 March, 9 a 94 7 a 74 15 a 15 12 a 122 April, 83 a 9 63 a 15 a 15 12 a 12 |