Copra, Shell
p. 141 · Read in the full issue
Prices For Micronesian
ALMOST the entire produce of the American Trust Territory of Micronesia is at present going to Japanese buyers. The vessel Gunner’s Knot lifted 2,100 tons of copra and 270 tons of trochus in various parts of the Territory dur ing September.
Copra quotations from the Pacific Coast, the report states, advanced to as high as $197.50 (£B5 Aus tralian) per ton, GIF, afloat, Euro pean buyers were offering as high as $222.50 for October and $221.50 for November GIF shipments. Jap anese quotations were lower, but more satisfactory shipping connec tions are available. A strike in Los Angeles oil mills was causing the keen demand from the Pacific Coast.
The price currently paid to pro ducers is $lOO per ton delivered to Island Trading Co. warehouses.
There was a $lO rise to this figure in September.
The 1953 trochus crop was in ex cess of the expected amount, and the balance of the crop was sold to Japan in August at a price said to be much higher than that paid last year. Increased activity in the textile industry—with a corre sponding increase in demand for trochus buttons—is said to be the cause of the rise. Exact prices paid were not stated.