The Copra Market In Europe

By Our Special Correspondent

London, Jan. 25.

MARKET conditions in London con tinue normal and quotations are, on the whole, fairly stable. At the time of writing, the C.I.F. price of F.M.S.

Straits copra for January/February ship ment fluctuates between £lO/15/ and £lO/12/6.

I asked Messrs. H. M. F. Faure and Company, of London, what, in their view, was the future for copra. Quite naturally, they regard the question as impossible of a definite answer. The world at present is so full of uncertain factors—notably, import quotas in cer tain countries, exchange restrictions, etc.,

and, arising out of these factors, a tend ency to switch from one oil-bearing seed to another. The technique of oil seed f ru f h ing has advanced to such an ex tent that it becomes increasingly prac ticable to switch in this way.

However, whilst the outlook is rather obscure, the London market does not look for any great fluctuation. The con sumption of copra has remained reason ably constant, total world exports from the principal countries being around a million tons a year.

London is still the main copra mar keu of the world, and there has been no general change in marketing. The pur chases of copra, even for big countries like Germany, France, and Central Eu rope, are still largely made in London France buys her copra here, with the exception of shipments emanating from her own colonies. These are mainly handled through Marseilles.

Copra from the Philippine Islands is likewise sold on the London market, but ?nly the surplus is marketed there and Marseilles, as the United States takes the bulk of the shipments. At the pre sent time, moderate quantities of Philip pine copra are offering on the London market.

Though not really an important fac tor, still it is interesting to note a lit tle lower tendency in the freight mar ket. This means a saving of a few shillings per ton.

GIVEN no international trouble, the London copra market looks forward to normal conditions. In France, the quota factor has not influenced the market much,, as French colonial ship ments are not of sufficient importance to influence prices to any serious ex tent. The Straits Settlement are the most important shippers as far as the United Kingdom is concerned, and the quantity available from that source is sufficient for normal requirements. The main market for Pacific Islands copra is still the U.K., Denmark and France, the latter the most important, because most South Seas copra is low-grade cop ra and is largely used in France for soap manufacture.

Copra from Ceylon continues to go chiefly to India, though there is still a moderate trade done with Europe-Great Britain, France, Germany and Scandin avia.

The Dominions do not, as yet, figure largely in the market as buyers and, un til their population increases substan tially, it is not likely that they will.

The Canadian business is usually done direct with the country of origin, and is regarded in London as unimportant.

The American business affects the Lon don market only in so far as it con cerns the offerings of Filipino copra to countries other than the United States.

REVERTING to competitive factors, the two most important nowadays are whale oil and soyabeans. Whal ing is now in progress, and it is too early to give readers any idea of this season’s catch. It will interest suppliers to know, however, that the figures avail able of the catch of certain fleets indi cate that the total will be less than last season, when the world’s whale oil catch was perhaps the record total of 500,000 tons.

Soyabeans: This business has been dis turbed by the situation in the Far East, and normal trading has largely broken

down. On the other hand, large quan tities of soyabeans are being sold by Japan to Germany on a barter basis.

Just recently, Germany has again en tered the market, and, as the time of writing, she is a buyer at £7/15/-, with sellers asking £7/17/6. About 40,000 to 50,000 tons were sold the Germany dur ing the past month.

Messrs. H. M. F, Faure, in their Janu ary report, state: “The increase in the copra imports dropped from 38.000 tons at the end of September to 26,000 tons at the end of November. On the other hand, the deficit in the palm kernel im ports increased from 11,000 tons at the end of September to 17,000 tons at the end of eleven months. It will be no ticed that at the end of November the

rise in the copra imports is largely off set by the drop In palm kernel tai ports” P

America S Cotton-Seed Oil

TT was reported from Washington on 1 January 19 that, this year, the Uni ted States has a record carry-over of cotton, totalling altogether 14 million bales. It is such an enormous surplus that President Roosevelt is planning an international cotton congress to develop plans for the disposal of the accumu lation.

This enormous cotton crop is likelv to affect the price of copra. It is well known that when the United States has a large production of lard or cotton-seed oil the importation of copra from the

Philippine Islands decreases and a cor responding surplus of Philippine Islands copra goes to the European market. It therefore, would appear that a good deal of Filipino copra is already on its way to Western Europe.