Developments in Marketing Spreads for Agricultural Products in 1962

Report Highlights: Charges for marketing farm-originated food products rose less in 1962 than in any year since 1950, the last year they declined. The rise in 1962 was less than one-half of 1 percent compared with an average increase of about 3 percent per year from 1950 to 1961. The small rise in marketing charges in 1962 reflected relative stability in costs of performing marketing operations. Average hourly earnings of food marketing employees increased less in 1962 than in most other years since 1950. Transportation charges probably changed little. Prices of supplies, equipment, and other goods and services used by food marketing firms averaged about the same last year as in 1961. Retail prices of farm foods averaged about 1 percent higher in 1962 than in 1961. The 1962 level was slightly higher than the previous record established in 1958. More than half the rise in retail prices was reflected in higher prices to farmers for food products, which averaged 1 percent higher in 1962 than in 1961. Farm food product prices averaged higher in 1962 than in any year since 1954, except for 1958. Farmers received 38 cents of the dollar consumers spent for farm foods in 1962, the same share as in 1961. Retail food prices and expenditures for food per capita rose less than disposable income per capita from 1961 to 1962. Retail prices of cotton clothing and household furnishings averaged a little lower in 1962 than in 1961, and prices farmers received for lint cotton from which these articles were fabricated were up 6 percent. Consequently, marketing charges were down slightly last year. Retail prices of cigarettes edged up again in the year ended June 30, 1962. Two-thirds of the rise was reflected in an increase in farmers' returns for leaf tobacco.