Unilever's Chief Buyer

In S. Pacific

(See also Article p. 155) rpHE chief buyer of oils and fats 1 for Unilever Limited, Mr. J. C.

A. Faure, was in Port Moresby in mid-March, in conference with the Copra Marketing Board of Papua and New Guinea.

Mr. Faure came into the South Pacific via America. Early in, March, he spent a couple of days in Fiji before he went on to Sydney. He proposes to return to Fiji about March 24.

In his position, and as the repre sentative of a great international combine which, in the Between Wars period, strongly influenced the world price of copra, Mr. Faure’s visit has been of much interest to South Pacific copra producers.

Although the Unilever emissary’s conference in Moresby with the Copra Board was watched with considerable speculation, most people decided that Mr. Faure’s visit to the South Seas is mostly exploratory. There was no indica tion of any immediate plan under which Unilever will buy South Pacific copra under contract, when the MOF contract expires on December 31, 1957.

But there is little doubt that some such plan is in the minds of both Unilever (now meeting international competition in the field of buying) and the South Pacific Governments responsible for protecting the price of South Pacific copra after 1957, and that it will be considered from all angles during 1957,