Excerpt from Marketing and Transportation Situation During the second half of 1975, marketing spreads may widen as rising wage rates, energy and material costs, and transportation charges continue to exert an upward push on operating expenses of food marketing firms. For the year, marketing spreads are expected to average around 10 percent wider than in 1974 when they rose by an extraordinary 20 percent. Much of this year's expected increase has already occurred. The retail cost of a market basket of foods produced on u.s. Farms averaged (annual rate) in the first quarter of this year, up percent from the previous quarter. Increases were greatest for processed fruits and vegetables, bakery and cereal products, and sugar. Compared with a year earlier, retail costs in the first quarter were up about 6 percent. Retail prices for market basket foods decreased in March for the first time in 8 months. Gross returns to farmers (farm value of quantities of farm commodities equivalent to retail units) for market basket foods averaged $721 (annual rate) in the first quarter, down percent from the previous quarter and down percent from a year earlier. Returns decreased for animal products from year earlier levels, but returns were up sharply for process ed fruits and vegetables, oilseed products, and sugar. The farm value for market foods decreased each month from November to March, but turned up sharply in April. Farm-retail spreads widened sharply in the first quarter of 1975 as returns to farmers dropped. The spread between the retail cost and the farm value of the market basket averaged (annual rate) in the first quarter, up 6 percent from the previous quarter and up 18 percent from the first quarter of last year. The farm-retail spread - which represents charges for assembling, processing, transporting, and distributing the products in the market basket - widened sharply from year-earlier levels for most items. Increases were especially great for fats and oils products, sugar, bakery and cereal products, and processed fruits and vegetables. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.