RETAIL PEANUT PRICES EXPECTED TO HOLD

TISTON, Ga. -- Peanut prices at the retail level are expected to hold steady, even though tens of thousands of acres of this year's peanut crop were destroyed by heavy flooding, according to an official with the Georgia Peanut Commission here.

f the state's crop. Fields also have been destroyed in Alabama and Florida.

"If the stores raise peanut butter prices it would be unjust at this time," Koehler added. Peanut prices are set before the season begins and a peanut stabilization program ensures that the domestic market receives peanuts first.

"With our stabilization program, we always deliver our peanuts to the domestic market first. If there are shortages, they will show up in the export market," he said. "Most farmers are already contracted with shellers at preflood prices."