Copra

Islands Produve

(Unless otherwise stated, quotations are In Australian currency)

Cocoa

ISLANDS cocoa prices are usually based on the ruling rate for Accra cocoa (West Africa), quotation for which early in March was £315 Stg ci.f. (equivalent to £393/15/- Aust.).

Quotation supplied by Colyer Watson Ltd., Svdney P Pacific cocoa beans were quoted (sellers) nominally on the Sydney market in March at New Guinea: £340-£350 Aust. per ton. ex wharf New Hebrides: No supplies available in Sydney at nresent W. Samoa: Sydney agents reported early in March that Samoan cocoa prices had fallen

slightly—to £2BO Samoan (£A3SO) per ton. (Samoan currency equals Sterling.)

Trochus Shell

Nominal Sydney quotations in March were: Thursday Is., £220 per ton, f.0.b.; New Guinea, £235 per ton, c.i.f., Sydney: Solomon Is., £255 (a parcel sold in February at this price is believed to have been the highest f.o.b. Sydney price yet obtained for BSI shell); Fiji, £F9O (£AIOI/14/-) per long ton an the beach at Suva; New Caledonia, approxi mately 14,000 francs per ton, Noumea.

Coffee

Nominal quotations are:— New Caledonia: Production exported to France at above normal rates (equivalent to £A4SO per ton for Arabica. £A4OO for Robusta).

New Guinea and Papua: Nominally £375 to £425 per ton (c.i.f.), according to quality.

Vanilla Beans

Papeete merchants recently quoted 325 francs per kilo for French Oceania vanilla beans.

Recent price for Tahiti beans quoted in Syd ney (by J. C. Merrillees Pty., Ltd.) was: White Label, 12/6 per lb., c.i.f, Sydney.

Rice

Price of rice shipped from Sydney to Islands ports is fixed at: £5O per ton White and £54 per ton Brown. The price comes up for revision on May 1, 1951.

Green Snail Shell

A nominal quotation in Sydney in March was at £l5O 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, TI shell prices were fixed in 1949 (for three years) at: Sound grades £A325 per ton, f.0.b., TI; “D” grade, £A225; “E” grade, £AI25 —all plus bonuses.

The 1950-51 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: £ASBO per ton for Sound grades, £A465 for “D” grades and £A34O for “E” grades.

Copra

Papua - New Guinea. Production Control Board’s fixed price, delivered to ship’s slings or ANGPCB warehouses, as from March, 1951: At main ports, Hot-air Dried, £54/5/- per ton (at Kokopo, £52/17/6); Smoked, £53/12/6 (at Kokopo, £52/5/-). Official price (as from March, 1951) for Papua-New Guinea copra sold in Sydney to crushers: Hot-air Dried, £74/10/-; Smoked, £73/17/6. Australia has a 9 years’ con tract with Britain for the disposal of all Terri tories’ copra surplus to her own needs, and the above prices are based on the British MOP rate of £53/15/- Stg. per ton.

Fiji.—From January 1, 1951: £53/15/- Stg. (£55/5/- Fijian to planters) per ton, FMS. Fiji has a 9 years’ contract with UK Ministry of Food for all copra exported.

New Hebrides.—Price at Vila and Santo is £95 Aust. per ton.

Western Samoa.—Producers in 1951 will receive £45/11/- Samoan (par with Sterling) per ton.

E.0.b., Apia. This price is based on an MOP rate of £53/19/- Stg. per ton, less £5/7/11 Samoan Export Duty and £3/0/1 Copra Stabilisa tion Fund.

Solomon Is,: Producers receive £ASI per ton, f.0.b., for copra shipped from Honiara or Yan dina ports (based on £53/15/- Stg. MOP price).

Fr. Oceania. — Papeete merchants recently have paid 9,350 Pacific francs per 1,000 kilos for Tahiti copra (about £7O Aus. per ton).

Rubber

Sydney trading firms use the London and Singapore day-to-day quotations as a basis when buying Papuan rubber. Overseas prices in early March again rose to record levels. The rate on March 5 for No. 1 grade RSS (sellers) was; Spot: Nominally TSVzd. Stg. per lb., c.i.f., London (equivalent to 91gd. Aust. per lb.); Singapore, RMA No. 1 (sellers) 229 cents per lb., f.o.b.