Islands Produce
p. 114 · Read in the full issue
(Unless otherwise stated, quotations are in Australian currency)
Cocoa
TSLANDS cocoa prices are usually based on the -I ruling rate for Accra cocoa (West Africa), quotation for which in early December had dropped to £257/10/- Stg., c.i.f. (equivalent to £321/17/6 Aust. i for December-February ship ments. Quotation supplied by Colyer Watson (NG) Ltd., Sydney.
Pacific cocoa beans were quoted (sellers) nominally on the Sydney market in December at:— New Guinea: £290 Aust per ton. ex wharf.
New Hebrides: £295 Aust. per ton, ex wharf.
W. Samoa: Sydney agents reported in mid- December that the price of Samoan cocoa dropped another £3O per ton during the month —to £285 Samoan (Aust. £358/15/-) per ton. (Samoan currency equals Sterling.)
Trochus Shell
Nominal Sydney quotations in December were: Thursday Is., £l4O per ton, f.0.b.; New Guinea, £l6O per ton, c.i.f., Sydney; Solomon Is., £165; Fiji, £F9O (£AIOI/14/-) per long ton on the beach at Suva; New Caledonia, approximately 14.000 francs per ton, Noumea.
Coffee
Nominal quotations are:— New Caledonia: Production exported to France at above normal rates (equivalent to £A4OO, per ton for Arabica, £A3SO for Robusta).
New Guinea and Papua: Nominally £350 to £370 per ton (c.i.f.), according to quality.
Vanilla Beans
Papeete merchants recently quoted 325 francs per kilo for French Oceania vanilla beans.
Price for Tahiti beans quoted in Sydney (by J. C. Merrillees Pty., Ltd.) is; White Label, 12/6 per lb., c.i.f., Sydney.
Rice
Price of rice shipped from Sydney to Islands ports was fixed on May 1 for the 1950-51 season at: £5O per ton White and £54 per ton Brown.
Green Snail Shell
A nominal quotation in Sydney in December was at £l3O per ton, c.i.f., for f.a.q. shell.
Pearl Shell
By a term contract between the Otto Gerdau Company (USA) and the majority of Torres Strait pearlers, TT shell prices were fixed in 1949 (for three years) at: Sound grades, £A325 per ton, f.0.b., TI; “D” grade, £A225; “E” grade, £Al2s—all plus bonuses.
The 1950 Torres Strait pearling season re opened in May. Purchase price for the independent pearlers’ output, after negotiation with overseas buyers, was finally set at approxi mately: £ A5BO per ton for Sound grades, £A465 for “D” grades and £A34O for “E” grades. In dividual parcels of Sound shell have sold for as high as £ A6OO.
Copra
Papua - New Guinea. Production Control Board’s fixed price, delivered to ship’s slings or ANGPCB warehouses, as from May, 1950: At main ports, Hot-air Dried, £4B/10/- per ton; Smoked, £47/17/6 (subject to premium up to £l/5/- for superior grades). Official price (as from May, 1950) for Papua-New Guinea copra sold in Sydney to crushers: Hot-air Dried, £67/15/-; Smoked, £67/2/6. Australia has a 9 years’ contract with Britain for the disposal of all Territories’ copra surplus to her own needs, and the above prices come up for review in March, 1951 —it is expected that the 1951 price will be around £5 higher than the present rates.
Fiji.—From January 1, 1951: £55/5/- Fijian
P6f ton, FMS; the 1950 price was £Sil/i4/3 Fijian per ton. Fiji has a 9 years’ contract with the UK Ministry of Food for all copra exported.
New Hebrides.—Price at Vila and Santo: £52 Aust. per ton.
Western Samoa.—Producers in 1950 received £45 Samoan (par with Sterling) per ton, of which £3 was held for a Stabilisation Fund, under a 10 years’ contract with the UK Food Ministry.
Fr, Oceania.— Papeete merchants recently have paid 9,350 Pacific francs per 1,000 kilos for Tahiti copra.
Rubber
Sydney trading firms use the London and Singapore day-to-day quotations as a basis when buying Papuan rubber. Overseas prices in early December fell from the record November levels by 20 per cent. An average rate in mid- December for No. 1 grade RSS was:—Spot: Nominally 51d. Stg. per lb., c.i.f., London (equivalent to 63 3 / 4 d. Aust. per lb.); Singapore: RMA No. 1 172 cents per lb., f.o.b.