Copra Price
p. 20 · Read in the full issue
IN 1954 United Representations
To Mof
ALL the British countries in the South Pacific which dispose of their copra under the British Ministry of Food nine-years’ con tract (made in 1949 and due to expire at the end of 1957) are now making representations to London that, under the section of the con tract which allows a 10 per cent, rise or fall in any one year, the price for 1954 shall be 10 per cent, higher than in 1953.
The countries concerned are Fiji Papua - New Guinea, British Solomon Islands, Tonga, Western Samoa, Cook Islands and Gilbert and Ellice.
The price paid by the MOF in 1953 has been approximately £65 per ton Sterling, f.o.b. Pacific ports —equal to about £73 Fijian and £BO Australian—but the price actually received by planters has varied a good deal in individual Territories.
The c pnt r act in every case is handled by the Administration con cerned, and in each case the Ad mmistration makes various kinds of deductions. The average received bv the South Pacific shippers in 1953 has been around £7O Australian.
The 1953 world price of copra has been . consistently above the MOF price, and South Pacific planters have good grounds for ex- Pccpng a 10 per cent, rise in 1954 Ift J f the Pinters, in 1953, produced 100,000 tons (it is a good deal ?7°n r n e n nn? e 7 r . ece p ved approximately £7,000,000 Australian. A 10 per cent ri se means another £700,000. , The copra market in London has been strengthening steadily for some time,” said a leading South Pacific merchant to the PIM early m December, in the last week in November there were sales of Straits FMS at £B7/15/- c.if Forward quotations were, Decem ber/January, £B7/10/-, January/ February £B7/5/- which indicates a strong future market. (£BB Stg. c.i.f would be equal to about £95 Australian or £B5/10/- Fijian fob South Pacific port). ’
“The Ministry of Food is a long way up on the profit side and the contract has now run for almost five years. Producers have paid very dearly for the security which the contract has given them It seems only reasonable that the Ministry should pay the fullest price from now on, as they have already received more than an ample premium for the security they have given to producers “If the Ministry should lose money in 1954, under a 10 per cent rise, it could only be a fraction of the gam they have in hand; and the price could then be re-adjusted
in 1955 to save further substantial losses to the Ministry—although they would have to lose a very large sum indeed to repay anything like the gain they have taken from the South West Pacific copra suppliers under the contract.”