Trends In Other

Pacific Product

SHELLS:—According to Londc quotations the price of trochus an greensnail has remained steac since a sharp September rise, tc grades then jumping by £Stg.3s p;

m. with lower grades in proper jn. Singapore grade, for immedi e shipment, has been quoted since •ptember at £Stg.46s, cif, Mergui ' £325, and Padang, £3OO. Singa ►re greensnail is also holding eady, having jumped from 1tg.332/10 - to £340 in September.

COCOA: —London quotations of )vember 20 showed a slight im ovement on a month earlier, ough there were substantial ictuations through the period. UK lyers closed a deal with British est African Marketing Boards on wember 19 for 8,000 tons of good rmented Gold Coast at £Stg.4oo r ton, January-March shipment, Other buyers paid from £4OO £412 for December-February ipments. Earlier that week Jan ry-March shipments had been oted at £Stg.3Bs, cif UK ports. In w York, quotations for December irch shipments were steady at 94 cents per lb. on March 19. This about £Stg.397 per long ton. fhe US Department of Agricul •e estimated the Brazil 1954-55 rvest at 350-370 million lbs as npared with last season’s 271 llion lbs. The main crop appears ;re from October to April.

Sarly December Sydney quoted Samoa cocoa at £Stg.3Bs, fob, ia, equal to about £A4BI 5 —a 3 of over £A6O in a month.

Jew Guinea cocoa in early De nber had jumped to £ASOS, ex arf, Sydney, for a late sale,

though earlier it had been £A4BO.

The late price was a rise of £A6O over the month.

Accra early December was quoted at £AS3O, cif, Sydney, and the high NG price was attributed to urgent spot requirements by Australian buyers.

COFFEE:—As compared with London quotations of October 30 Kenya “A’ v -grade coffee had risen by £lO7 per ton to November 19 and was quoted at £Stg.67s, fob, Mombasa, prompt shipment. How ever, faq, Bukoba, native Robusta had varied little and was quoted at £Stg.37s. In London sales of about that date, British Cameroons Arabica brought £4OO, £528, and £540 for the small, medium, and bold grades respectively. Robusta brought £367 to £3BO. Gold Coast Robusta brought £355 and Uganda Robusta £413. These on-the-spot consign ments naturally brought more than those offered for future deliveries from overseas.

In New York, Santos “Fours”— the grade on which prices are usually based, was, on November 19, up about \ cent per lb on Oc tober 30 quotations, on-the-spot con signments bringing 7U cents.

Colombian was quoted then at 77 cents. These prices are about £Stg.s4o and £Stg.62o per long ton respectively.

Sydney quoted P-NG Robusta early December at 7/- per lb for top grades, in store, Sydney—that is,

about £A7BS per ton, or a 10-15 per cent rise on last firm quotation of two months ago.

COPRA:—In Papeete the Depart ment of Economic Affairs announced a revision of copra prices on No vember 15. Prices now are: Tahiti grade, 9.03 francs per kilo; Tuamotu grade 9.50 francs per kilo, delivered in bulk at Papeete. These prices are equal to about £A63 8 - and £A6S 14 - respectively.

The free market London quota tion for New Hebrides copra fell by 1,000 metropolitan francs per ton to 81,000 francs cif, Continental ports, for consignments actually afloat. This price is equivalent to about £AIO4. In the same period— October 30 to November 20—Philip pines copra, December-January shipment, remained unchanged at SUSI9S, fob —about £AB7 10 0.

Straits copra declined slightly to about £Stg.7l 10 0-£72, cif, Con tinental ports, for December- January shipments. This is about

£Ab9 7 6-£9O.

Governor Lowe, of E. Samoa, in Sydney, in November, explained that

ie Copra Board there currently [ys 4i cents per lb in Pago Pago.

Ie price fixed is below the ex cted market price and a bonus is id intermittently to producers on esentation of their delivery re ipts. For the year ended last ne 30 the bonus was 1 cent per making the full payment for the ar 5s cents, i.e., $123 per long ton, £ASS approximately. Total bonus r the year was $52,000, represent l a total E. Samoa production ure of 2,320 long tons.

RUBBER: —D uring the past inth rubber has reached its best ce since January, 1953. Top grade iched 29 cents a pound recently New York; London has been as ;h as 26id Stg. (For late quota ns, see page 164). Factors re msible are believed to be the UK ’k strike which caused shortages, i a demand for natural rubber new tubeless tyres.

Negotiations are drawing to a se for sale of US synthetic rubber nts to private enterprise. Pro pers of natural rubber hope that i synthetic rubber price—which tually puts a ceiling on natural )ber—will rise when the plants inge hands.