High Quality N.G.
p. 37 · Read in the full issue
Copra
Should Not Be £3 Per Ton Under “Straits”
SOME effort should be made by New Guinea planting and trading interests to get a better price for the highest grades of New Guinea copra.
At present, there is a difference of at least £3 per ton in the London quotations for “Straits” (which is virtually Ceylon) and “Rabaul Hot-air-dried.” Even allow ing a difference, against Rabaul, of 15/or 20/- per ton on account of freight, there is nothing like £2 per ton difference in the quality of the two copras.
Planters will be interested in figures compiled recently by Mr. E. J. Wauchope, a well-known planter on the Madang coast of New Guinea. At his request, Messrs. Burns, Philp made an analysis, in Sydney, of average copra produced by Mr. Wauchope’s Ceylon dryer; and, beside those figures, Mr. Wauchope set an average analysis of “Straits” quality of copra. The comparison, shown in the following table, is .illuminating:
Those figures should be checked by a London analysis. If they are approxi mately correct, high-grade New Guinea copra should not be £3 per ton under “Straits” grade.
Wauchope's Ceylon-dryer copra Average “Straits” copra Per cent.
Per cent.
Oil 66.74 64.9 Moisture 5.58 4.2 Free fatty acid .73 1.2