Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, September 30, 1994 TAG: 9409300029
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
WASHINGTON - The supply of hogs and pigs has reached the highest level since June 1980, the Agriculture Department reported Thursday.
The inventory of 61.6 million head on Sept. 1 resulted from higher production on large farms, more than offsetting declines by smaller operators, the department said.
The abundance of hogs has kept prices low for farmers. Retail prices moved down slightly in August, and the department expects further declines this fall.
Thursday's quarterly report also said hog producers intended to have 3.12 million sows farrow from September through November, the highest level since 1980.
- Associated Press
Media General expands holdings
RICHMOND - Media General, parent of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, said Thursday it has acquired 40 percent of the common stock of the parent company of the Denver Post.
Media General said in a statement that it had purchased the Denver Newspapers Inc. stock through the exercise of a warrant that it has held for several years. The price was not disclosed.
Media General already owns the preferred stock of DNI and elects half of the company's board of directors. The balance of DNI's common stock is owned by Affiliated Newspapers Investments Inc.
- Associated Press
Chrysler ups ante on gas-driven cars
Chrysler Corp. plans to boost prices of gasoline-powered cars - perhaps up to $2,000 - in California and other states that require high-volume sales of zero-emission vehicles.
``You won't hear us protesting anymore,'' Chrysler Chairman Robert Eaton said Thursday, though he still thinks electric cars are an impractical solution to America's air problems.
Chrysler has electric minivans now that will satisfy California's law requiring 2 percent of the vehicles a company sells to be zero-emission in 1998.
Because electric vehicles have a limited range and require frequent recharging, Chrysler will be forced to sell them at prices less than a typical $18,000 minivan in order to attract buyers, even though they cost up to $45,000 to produce, Eaton said.
Rather than swallow that loss, he said, the difference would be made up by slapping a surcharge on all other cars and trucks sold in California.
- Knight-Ridder/Tribune
by CNB