Papua-N. Guinea

Copra Is King

IN

fITHE Trade Returns for Papua and JL New Guinea for the financial year ended March 31, 1954, have just been issued—and they demon strate that the coconut is still by far the most important item in the economy of the Dual Territory, though other industries are develop ing. Coconut products yielded almost £7J millions in a total income of £ll millions received from exports. (All values are in Australian currency.) Main features of the Returns are: • A combined export-import trade increase of £3.3 million. • Export values up by £300,000, or 2.7 per cent. ® Import values up by over £3 million, or 25.64 per cent. • A trade deficit of £4 million, compared with £1.25 million in the previous year and £4.75 million in the year before that. • Copra returns up £1.3 million and 15,000 tons—or 21 1 per cent, in value and 131 per cent, in quantity. • A heavy fall in gold output, with receipts down by £735,000.

An examination of the Returns shows that most of the trade deficit is charged to Papua, which thus has a deficit of £3.8 million, whilst that of New Guinea was £| million. All that, of course, is because P-NG was subsidised by Australia in that period by some £6 millions, and an other million at least was spent on oil research; and these revenues

(over and above export earnings) were mostly received in goods; and by far the larger proportion of such imports went to Port Moresby.

Principal increase in import values was under the heading of machinery, metals and metal manufactures— which includes a large proportion of capital goods.

Although gold exports fell heavily, gold was still the second most im portant item. The principal exports were:

The comparative prices of some of the commodities exported in this and the previous year show copra was down by £2 per ton; gold was unchanged at £l5/11/- per ounce; rubber rose from 1/9 to 2/3 per lb; cocoa fell from £342/10/- to £274 per ton; coffee fell from £693 to £660 per ton; peanuts rose from £176 to £193/10/- per ton; and, on a mixed trochus and greensnail basis, the average price of shell fell from £231 to £162/10/ per ton.

No details are given of the quantity of crocodile hides —a useful dollar earner—but the value rose by £24,000.

Most unexpected export probably is beer —the 18,000 gallons shipped South (as a result of the operation of the new brewery in Port Moresby) yielding £6,372. At the same time liquor imports increased

by £47,459 in value, a 14J per c< rise on the previous year.

Import items in order of vs were: Food, £4.4 million; machir and metal manufactures, million; textiles and clothing, million; oil products, mineral vegetable, £875,379; tobacco, incl ing trade tobacco, £585,287; liquor, £374,136.

Copra £ 7,500,000 Gold 1,410,000 Rubber (Papua) .. .. 612,788 Cocoa beans 249,588 Trochus, greensnail shell 209,090 Timber 181,849 Coffee beans 60,211 Peanuts 30,338 Silver 18,422 Crocodile hides .. .. 38,572