1/Average quantities of farm food products purchases per wage-earner and clerical-worker family in 1952. 2/ Data for average family purchases in 1950 of 25 articles of cotton clothing and house furnishings divided by number of pounds of lint cotton required for their manufacture; see U. S. Dept. Agr. Market. Res. Rept. 277. Revised; see p. 11. 3/ Data for 4 tobacco products from 1 pound of leaf tobacco (farm-sales weight), weighted by leaf equivalent of current tax-paid withdrawals; fiscal year beginning July 1957. Seasonally adjusted annual rates, calculated from Dept. of Commerce data. 5/ Dept. of Labor. 5/ Weighted composite earnings in food processing, wholesale trade, retail food stores, calculated from data of Dept. of Labor. 7 Seasonally adjusted, Dept. of Commerce. Annuel data for 1957 are on an average monthly basis. / Seasonally adjusted, Board of Governors of Federal Reserve System. 9/ Converted from 1910-14 base. THE MARKETING AND TRANSPORTATION SITUATION Approved by the Outlook and Situation Board January 29, 1959 Prices farmers received for farm food products rose sharply in the The annual average retail cost of a family market basket of farm Farm-retail spreads for all food-product groups were higher in 1958 than in 1957. Percentage increases ranged from 3 percent for poultry and eggs to 7 percent for meat products. Farm-retail spreads for beef and pork reached new highs in 1958. The wholesale-retail segment of the farm- retail spread accounted for all of the increase for beef and nearly all the rise for pork. Reduced supplies of slaughter livestock and higher marketing costs were principally responsible for the higher prices and farm-retail spreads for meat. (For further discussion of prices and |