Islands Produ[?]

(Unless otherwise stated, quotations?

In Australian currency. Aust. £ es approximately 16/- Stg-., NZ, on Samoa; 18/- Fiji; 20/- Tonga, Solomoo WPHC areas; 168 Pac. Frs.; SUS 2.20-N

Copra

The British Ministry of Food 9-:- Contract, which governed Copra p; in Papua and New Guinea, Fiji, Wes Samoa. Solomon Islands, and Gilbert* Ellice Colony (and. to some extentr Tonga and Cook Islands) expired onn cember 31, 1957; since when each IT

y has made its own arrangements for lection and marketing of copra.

APUA-NEW GUINEA:—AII production delivered to Copra Marketing Board, trolled by Government; and the Board ;cts distribution and sales, and makes ments to the producers. Production s mainly to (a) Unilever (under con :t covering 1958), (b) Australia (for il consumption) and (c) crushing-mill Rabaul. Prices generally arranged in irdance with ruling rate in Philippines ■ket. Unilever price: Manila FM grade is, with premiums up to £3A per ton hot-air dried.

"Tentative” Price For New Guinea i January, P-NG Copra Board an aced “Tentative Prices”, from January jr copra delivered at main ports: Hot- Dried. £A47 per ton; FM Standard, ; Smoke-Dried, £45/7/6.

JI:—No Government control—producers where they wish. Bulk of copra goes crushing-mill in Suva, whose price vharf, Suva, is announced each week, at June 10, HAD, £PS3; PMI

1/12/6; Fm2, £Fso/7/6.

ESTERN SAMOA:—Official Copra d receives all production, and sells ; and makes payments to producers, e proportion goes to Unilever, at ppines FM grade rates, plus pre ns up to £Stg.3 per ton for hot- Iried. Prices as from April 21, 1958air dried: £Stg.4s/15/-; sun dried I: £Stg.43/5/-; No. 2; £Stg.39/15/-.

'NGA: —Sales are under Government •01. Part of production goes to Europe, r arrangement with Unilever con id by Philippines prices, and part a open market.

LOMONS: —AII production marketed igh official Copra Board, at prices on Philippines market. Price de -1 June: Ist grade, £AS3; 2nd grade, ; 3rd grade, £A46/10/-. .BERT AND ELLlCE:—Production eted in Europe through official Copra 1, at prices based on Philippines less “stabilisation fund” charges, iAMOA:—Producers receive 4 cents lb. 9.6 or £A4O approx, per long ton).

He bonus, if average proceeds exceed buying price and expenses.

V HEBRIDES:—June price: 7,800 Pac. i (£ A45/12/3) delivered Vlla/Santo ent French price, 85,000 Metrop ; per 1,000 kilos, c.i.f. Marsailles). )K ISLANDS:—LocaI price is based :NZSO per ton, f.0.b.. Rarotonga, premium of 50/- (NZ) for top grade “led. Shipping, handling, shrinkage storage charges reduce the outer s price to about £NZ3O per ton rate.

Other Produce

OA:— Islands prices are based on the or Ghana cocoa which on June 9 15tg.377 per ton, c.i.f., London.

G.:—June 9: Around £A4IO, cif r, but depending on quality.

SAMOA:—Price quoted early June, , f.0.b., Apia.

FEE;— P.-N.G.: June 9: Good grades from 4/8 lb and up, c.i.f. Sydney, uality as high as 5/3 lb. Overseas is still freely available but con on expected to improve during Aus winter.

VUTS; —P.-N.G.: June 9: Kernels to store; Virginia bunch, in shell well cleaned, up to 1/3 del. Sydney’ crops expected soon from Kingaroy land, but consumption higher in lian winter months.

SER; P.-N.G. price is based on ra^e ’ which on June 9, was"

RSS spot, 74.125 Straits cents Aust. approx.) per lb.

VANILLA BEANS: Victor Karp, Tulk & Co., Sydney, reported on June 9: New crop, c.1.f., Sydney, Tahiti White and Yellow label, processed standard packs 66/-, Green 64/-.

RICE (Australian):—Price from May 1, 1958 —P.-N.G.: Dry brown and dressed, 112 lb bags, 5 tons and over, £6l/10/per ton, f.0.w.; under 5 tons £62 per ton. Vitamised and enriched white, 112 lb bags, 5 tons and over, £6B per ton, f.0.w.; under 5 tons. £6B/10/- per ton.

Other Pac. Islands: Dry, brown, etc., £7O per ton, f.0.w., Sydney or Melbourne.

PEARL SHELL.—May 9 quotation by independent pearlers unchanged. Sound £A7SO; D, £ASSO; E, £A375; EE. £A2OS (m store Sydney). Cook Is.-Penrhyn: No sales reported.

TROCHESMarket still weak. Sales have been made at £A345 for NG accord ing to one buyer; ESI to £A34O per ton. according to another. A little business being done. Prices are less rejects and based on Sydney weights.

GREEN SNAlL:—Merchants report some business at £A33O, c.i.f., Sydney.

London and US Quotations

Copra: London, June 9, Philippines in bulk. June-July $l9O seller; Straits/Borneo fair merchantable, del. weights, c.i.f. UK/ Nth. Europ. ports, June-July £Stg.69/15/- (nominal). New York, June 9, Philippines c.i.f. US Pacific port, $lB3 (nominal). (£1 Australian is about equal to 2 25 US Dollars.) Coconut Oil: London, June 9, Straits crude bulk, c.i.f., £ Stg.los ton. June seller. Ceylon in bulk, UK/Nth. Europ. port, £Stg.loB/6/- per ton, nominal, June- July.

Rubber :-London, June 9: RSS No. 1. spot, 21T 8 d Stg. buyers; July-September, 22d Stg. Market slightly steadier.

Coffee: London, late April, unwashed Uganda native Robusta, July 289/- Stg. per cwt., f.o.b. Mombasa. Indian Mysore Arabica cherry flats, 390/- Stg., c.i.f.

Brazilian coffee: Santos extra prime. 411/6 Stg. per cwt., f.o.b. port of origin.

Exchange Rates

FlJl.—Through BANK OF NSW, ANZ BANK and BANK OF NZ. Australia on Fiji, basis £lOO Fiji: Buying, £Alll/2/6; Selling, £AII3. Fiji-London, basis £lOO London: B. £llO/15/-; S. £ll2. NZ-Fiji, basis £lOO NZ: B. £lll/11/9; S. £llO/4/3.

SAMOA.—Through BANK OF NZ. Aus tralia on Samoa, basis £lOO Samoa; B. £AI23/12/6; S. £124/10/9. Samoa- London, basis £lOO London: B. £99/7/6; S. £lOl/10/-. Samoa-NZ, basis £lOO NZ: B. £100; S. £lOO/10/-. Samoa-Fiji, basis £lOO Samoa: B. £ 111; S. £llO.

Papua - Ng.—Commonwealth Bank

(Pt. Moresby, Lae, Rabaul, Goroka, Bulolo, Kavieng, Madang, Wewak), BANK OF NSW (branches: Port Moresby, Lae, Bulolo Rabaul, Madang, Samarai, Goroka’ agencies: Wau, Boroko, Kokopo) ANZ J^ oresby ’ Lae ’ Rat >au’l) and NATKDNAL bank OF A/ASIA. (Port Moresby) quote exchange rate Australia- Papua-NG: 10/- per £AIOO.

NORFOLK IS.—Commonwealth Bank quotes exchange rate Australia - Norfolk Island: 5/- per £AIOO.

FR. PACIFIC COLONIES.— Pacific francs most valuable of the three franc groups in French Union, are used in New Cale donia, New Hebrides, and Fr Polvnesln FRENCH BANK (Comptoir Nation^ D Escompte de Pans) in Sydney June 9, quotes; Selling. Noumea, 168 Pac. francs ™ £ * US^-: Ra P eete - 166.25 Pac. francs 79 of t> AUS V 208 Pac francs to £ Stg.; 72.82 Pac. francs to US $. Selling 1,179.25 Metrop. francs to £ stg.

Coffee Auctions In London

The first auction of coffee in London for almost a year took place in late April with offerings from India, Ghana, British Cameroons, Kenya, Tanganyika, Uganda, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, West Indies, Ecuador, Costa Rica and Haiti.

The market was rather slow with Indian offerings making good prices, where sold. Lots from Ghana and the British Cameroons made about valuation, but some of these had to be pushed after the auction sale to fully clear them. Some of the prices for the Empire coffees were: Indian plantation A 504/- and at 49]/-- C™ 6™" , Arabica 395/-; damaged 3 40 /- to 376/-; Ghana robustas 294/-; British North Borneo 286/-; small lots of Kenya from 463/- to 485/- and peaberry at 527/-; Tan ganyika 450/-, all per cwt. in bond.

The above is of interest to coffee growers in New Guinea as it indicates the wide fluctuation in price paid for the different gradings of coffee.

Fluctuations In The

Cocoa Market

During the month the cocoa market staged a spectacular rise and at one period London c.i.f. price for Ghana was around £Stg.4oo.

Prices had eased somewhat in mid-June.

Cause of the rise in cocoa over recent months is the poor crops from West Africa.

The Bank of New Zealand Produce Circular of J\Aay 23 said: o mid ' cr 0P is estimated at around 3,000-4,000 tons, a remarkably low figure when taking into account the poor out-turn of the mam-crop. Total purchases of Nigerian cocoa lorI or -Jo 1 weeks this season now amount t° 73,304 tons of main-crop and 3,829 tor>s of light-crop as against 121,082 and 11,002 tons respectively in the corresponding period !u ea . son ‘ Total confirmed sales effected by the Marketing companies [British West Africanl 1° 25 . 5 '°9° tons against a total of 380,000 tons in the same period last season; the Boards are obviously having to ration sales to eke out the poor crops.