Agricultural

Coffee as New Export

W. Samoa Agricultural Prospects Improve

AFTER the drop in exports of agricultural produce during the past few months, the economic position has greatly improved by a good cocoa crop now being picked and delivered to Apia sheds. At the same time the cocoa price somewhat improved and has reached the level of £225 per ton f.o.b. for first grade.

The June Tofua lifted 15,000 cases of bananas for the New Zealand market, a distinct improvement on shipments during the last five months, when only 5,000 to 8,000 cases were shipped by the USS Co. steamers. An increase in shipments during the second half of the year is confidently expected.

With better weather during the present dry season, an increase in copra cutting and copra exports may also be looked forward to.

An encouraging development is the harvesting of an exceptionally heavy coffee crop, which is esti mated to be about four times as large as the previous year’s crop.

While previous coffee production was barely enough to cope with local consumption, coffee planters have now to dispose of their crop in overseas markets and offers have been received from Samoan coffee, which is of excellent quality, from New Zealand and Australia as well as from England and the Continent.

Large areas of coffee have been planted by Government-owned Western Samoa Trust Estates Cor

poration and private planters and should come into bearing in the near future.