Indonesia 'Shocks'

The Copra

Buyers

From KEN McGREGOR, in London “Indonesia may have to stop exporting copra within the next a ° ir £ , .

Ve , y e ? rs because of declining

production,” Mr. Abdullah Jusuf,

chairman of the Indonesian Tonra rn-nnprnrivp rVntr P ciriH . °P fa °P eratlve Centre, said m LJecemoer. t* i . j

ne3?°thit Tw tt

j? t hl b ® f - re W d War 11 the worl ds major copra f„ X tt H m mn C ’ eaSe h C °, pra in *be mid-19705, shook the London broking market. Fears now are that the Philippines, world’s biggest pro ducer for over 10 years, will further dominate the uncertain market at the expense of minor producers in the South Pacific.

The news comes at the time when Britain is fighting a rather hopeless battle to have its imports of copra and coconut oil from British asso ciated territories continue when she is a member of the European Common Market. British associated territories at the moment are exempt from a 15 per cent, import duty when selling these products to the UK.

Only a year ago an official Indo nesian statement said that production of copra would be stepped up in the eastern regions of the republic.

In his December statement, Mr.

Jusuf said production in 1951 reached 1.5 million tons- in 1961 it dropped to 1.1 million’tons. The production was estimated at 600,000 tons, he said. He gave “old coconut trees and disease .. as the reasons for the decline, which London f ee ] s s i mD i v adds UD to n eelect In 1969 Indonesia exported 230,000 tons G f copra; the Philippines 544 743 tons; the ’lomh Pacffie about naOOO tons and Cevlon 19 052 tons Imports to the UK from ‘ British sources totalled 45,050 tons. In the same year the UK imported 42,490 tons of coc onut oil, 37,000 tons of w bich came from Fiji and New Guinea. The US imported 190,837 tons of coconut oil from the Philip pines in 1969, giving the Philippines a total export coconut figure in 1969 of about 800,000 tons. (Under a separate preference agreement with the US, applicable until 1974, Philip pine copra and coconut oil enters the US at a similar discount rate to that under the British arrangement.) The us has been slightly lowering its preference import quota for Philip

pines Promts and some brokers feel the agreement may not be renewed in its exact f° rm - Most, however, feel because of the huge US financial stake in the Philippines, there is no question of the US abandoning Philip pines copra.

Producers in the Pacific Islands cannot produce copra or coconut oil as cheaply as Philippines producers, and costs in the South Pacific are certain to rise, Also, Philippines copra can obtain cheaper freight rates by Baltic charter to Europe and other destinations than can Islands copra.

Q ne danger> brokers fccl> is that should copra and coconut oil prices accelerate in the 70’s with Indonesian output falling off, manufacturers could switch to the fast-developing and cheaper substitute nalrn nil In 1969 world exports were 700,000 tons 374 000 tons of which ramp

Malaysia Prices hate var^d

J? last vearn £l o B a ton—wefi beliw prices of conra and Tl“ 8 pnces 01 copra and coconut 011 a ,

Appeal TO ©Ot

V*aieaOrlian pOiafOCS

. , . beginning of summer again raised a problem for New Cale uoman farmers how to sell their P°tato crop. ( happened last year, west coast farmers around Bourail and La Foa themselves filling their sheds Wlt r t0 u S °r po i a {? es ’ raised from s A eed tubers carefully selected from Australia and France. , Sev !f al hun d red tons were awaiting s^ e .’ tbe Problem being that stocks ot im POried potatoes were still avail ab.le’ and bein 8 sold for a lower pr ‘ c .® tban tbe Caledonian growers coldd economically accept.

Appeals were made in the local Press and °“ TV exhorting house wives to eat Caledonian potatoes, though it was admitted that “of c °urse, the price is higher than that for imported potatoes”, Noumea shoppers are accustomed to buying their 5-kilogram sacks of imported “pommes de terre” for as b ttle as 7c . Aust. per lb. However, the top p nce on the local product was 9c wholesale, delivered to Noumea retailers.

In a move to highlight the plight of growers, the Agricultural Defence Union was reported as sending ap pealing letters to the Governor’s Office, the Territorial Assembly, local Agriculture Department, Noumea Radio and TV, etc. The letter claimed that “dozens of tons are rotting and being lost for lack of conservation and selling facilities”. The union called for building of a freezer.

Trade Briefs

• The P-NG Administration has announced that following consulta tions with employers and employees in Australia and the territory, a new authority is to be established to help develop industrial organisations in Papua-New Guinea. Called the Bureau of Industrial Organisations, its main purpose will be to give “greater stimulus and support” to the development of industrial organisa tions in the territory. The bureau’s operations will be guided by a tripar tite governing board consisting of representatives of government, em ployers and employees. • Australia’s Commonwealth Banking Corporation is looking seriously at the idea of more responsible Corporation jobs in Papua-New Guinea for New Guinean employees. CBC in P-NG employs 36 New Guineans, and senior bank officers went into conference in January to begin some long-term planning for the training of local people.

New Guinea News Service says that Australia’s Reserve Bank branch in Port Moresby has already appoint ed a local man —Tolai, Mr. Henry Toßobert —as deputy manager, but other banks in the territory have no counterparts. Mr. Toßobert is an economics graduate from Sydney university, the first New Guinean to gain such a degree. • Development of a new variety of pineapple has been announced by the Primary Industries Department in Queensland. Pineapples are an important Australian export, and the new type is expected in time to take an important place in this market.

Called the Queensland Cayenne, the new fruit descends from the best of several hundred single plant selec tions made 20 years ago, and since then subjected to exhaustive testing under a range of seasonal conditions.

Given top production priority, there are plans to have at least half a million of the plants available to growers for the 1975 planting season. In production, the new pine apple should increase yields without substantial increase of production costs. • John Lysaght (Australia) Ltd., is joining with two of Europe’s big gest companies in a joint venture to process steel cladding and other building and manufacturing materials in Noumea. The companies, Com pagnie Industrielle de Trevaux, Paris, and Societe Generale d’Entreprises, Paris, are better known as CITRA and SGE. Both are major French

civil engineers and building contrac tors. CITRA is part of the giant Schneider Group which also has interests in steel and banking.

The New Caledonia company, in which Lysaght will hold major interest, Societe Industrielle pour la Co-operation Technique (SICOTEC), is scheduled to be in production by April. Roll-forming equipment to process corrugated steel, roofing, and cold-formed sections for building and manufacturing, will be installed. • Broken Hill Proprietary Co.

Ltd. has applied for a prospecting authority to cover about 510 square miles of the East New Britain District of Papua-New Guinea, The jigsaw shaped section applied for stretches

from Teriu to north of Pende on the Open Bay coast. From the coast, at its widest, the application cuts into the Bainings for a distance of about 28 miles. BHP’s application has been set down for hearing at Wau on February 17. Another Australia-based mining company, Minjur Mines Pty.

Ltd., has applied for prospecting authority in the Putput area of the Central Bainings, East New Britain. • Cook Islands workers who in January went on strike for more money at the Rarotonga airport pro ject, returned to work after a week.

Negotiations were in late January being carried out between contrac tors and the New Zealand Govern ment to give them more money.