lon Of Copra
p. 21 · Read in the full issue
Fund Earns £1 Per lon Of Copra
The Papua-Guinea Copra Stabilisation Fund, which has functioned in one form or another since the end of the war, now stands at the hand some total of £ 3,300,000 which, invested in sound Government securities, is bringing in about £lOO,OOO p.a. in interest —or £1 per ton of copra produced For several years the Stabilisa tion Fund deduction was com bined with that for export tax and when the latter came to an end with the introduction of in come tax, Fund contributions came under review.
It has been decided, for the time being, anyhow, that no further contributions to the Fund are necessary and so planters will be richer by the £1 per ton they have been recently paying on this score.
The Fund was born out of experience of the wildly fluctu ating and mostly uneconomic prices for copra in the period between the wars. Its purpose is to cushion the industry against uneconomic prices, but so far the post-war industry has got along on its own and there have been no pay-outs from the Fund.