Cocoa, Copra Are
p. 137 · Read in the full issue
Main Topics
From a Rabaul Correspondent
The two main topics of interest in Rabaul at present are the really high prices for copra and the record low price for cocoa.
These two factors are going to produce some very odd effects in the planting industry.
The New Ireland planter who has for years bemoaned the fact that his ground was unsuitable for cocoa is now cheering his head off. The major plantation companies whose profits are de rived about equally from copra and cocoa are finding that the gain on one side just about can cels out the loss on the other.
And the ex-servicemen planters and others of recent vintage in the known cocoa areas of the Gazelle Peninsula and Popon detta who planted cocoa and no coconuts are in severe trouble financially—especially now that cocoa has been stricken with diseases.