Food Products

Title

Food Products

Creator

Herdman, C. G.

Language

English

Source

The American Chamber of Commerce Journal Volume XXV (No. 7) July 1949

Year

1949

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

302 ___________ AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL July, 1949 Against these quotas the following shipments were made: ,19.'f7 19 W 1.9419 Total . Helena Cigar Factory . Alhambra Cigar and 336,495 28,128 22 364,645 Cigarette Factory . .. 3 — — 3 Aguado Hermanos ....... — — Bunning & Co., Inc. ... 817,907 186,096 330,605 1,334,608 Go Fay & Co................. — — — — Manila Tobacco Trading 13,500 — — 13,500 Minerva ......................... — — — — By Mail ......................... — — — — Government Disposition . 53 9 1,000 1,062 TOTAL SHIPPED. 1,713,818 From this it can be seen that in about 2% years during which a total of 16,250,000 lbs. should have been shipped in order to fully cover the quota, only 1,713,818 lbs. were delivered, or 10.55% of the total. The reasons for the inability of the quota holders to fill their quotas were: You’ll aenee something differ ent when your fingers touch the highly responsive keys. It’s Rhythm Touch... to make your type writing easier. Your fingers will find comforting ease in the light ning key response. You’ll note better-balanced finger action . . . the free-and-easy rhythm of Underwood’s finest typewriter... the popular choice of secretaries and executives. With Rhythm Touch . . . plus other new refine ments . . . you get all the time-tried famous Under wood features . . . they make typing easier. See this new Underwood Standard Typewriter...with Rhythm Touch ... NOW! SMifOELL^eb'Xto. TRADE AND COMMERCE BLDG .MANILA 1. United States buyers are almost exclusively interested in stripped tobacco from Cagayan and Isabela. Weather conditions in these provinces during the past three years were so unfavorable for tobacco that only 1/3 to 1/2 of the normal crops were produced although farmers put out enough seedlings for harvesting crops of from 250,000 to 300,000 quintals. These crop shortages together with the fast-diminishing stocks of previous crops caused prices to rise beyond those which American buyers were willing to pay. In other words, Philippine tobacco priced itself out of the American market. 2. Ocean freight charges were increased to such an ex tent that the charges to the U.S. East Coast are now 40% higher than those to European North Atlantic ports, which fact contributed to the high c.i.f. costs which Philippine pro ducers had to ask for their stripped tobacco. 3. Stripped tobacco pays 3 different government fees: a. P0.50 per .100 kilos Internal Revenue Inspection fee before the tobacco is stripped. b. P1.00 per .100 kilos Internal Revenue Inspection fee when the stripped tobacco is exported. c. P0.55 per .100 kilos License fee to the Philippine Sugar Administration. The outlook for covering the quota for 1949 ia not encouraging. Advance information received from United States buyers indicates a substantial reduction in prices w,hich would force the Philippine producers of stripped tobacco to buy at considerably lower prices than last year. Whether this will be possible, is dif ficult to say at this moment. As every quota holder, old or new, has to face the foregoing facts, we believe that the inability to cover the entire quota, or a large part of it, cannot be met simply by a redistribution of the quotas, but only by adjusting the price of leaf-tobacco to the real ities of the world market. Food Products By C. G. Herdman Director, Trading Division Marsman & Company, Inc. THE principal item of interest in imported food stuffs at present is the very heavy arrivals of wheat flour and canned milk in the Islands dur ing the month of June. Visible flour stocks today are sufficient to cover consumers’ requirements until the end of September at least. The market is very heavily overstocked. There has been very little ordering done by importers these several weeks and it is unlikely there will be any ordering in volume before late August. The very considerable disparity in price be tween Canadian and American flour is also to be noted. Canadian flours are being offered, after making allowance for Customs import duty, at prices from $0.25 to $0.50 per 100 pounds cheaper than equivalent American grades. The government loan value on wheat in the United States maintains an artificial price so much higher than in other wheat-producing countries that American export flours are being priced out of the market, and unless some method of subsidy or other protection for American flour exporters is arranged, it is apparent that a very large portion of the business they have previously enjoyed will pass to Canada. As regards canned milk, the stock situation is very much the same as in flour. There have been July, 1949 AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL very heavy arrivals during the last 60 days not only of the well established brands in the market but also miscellaneous brands from California which ordinarily enjoy only a very small sale here. This California milk for some little time now has been offered at prices from $0.45 to $0.75 per case, c.i.f. Manila, lower than for the established brands. Information is that California condensaries are carrying very ex cessive inventories of milk and are forced to unload regardless of loss. As in the case of flour, milk stocks actually in the Islands today are sufficient to fill con sumers’ requirements for at least 90 days. Import controls for the second half of 1949 have been extended to include additional commodities be yond those previously listed and the quotas established for the first semester of the year in many cases have been reduced for the second semester. An item seriously affected in foodstuffs is vegetables. Accord ing to a circular just issued, all forms of vegetables are now placed on the restricted list and importation will only be permitted up to 60% of the quantities im ported during the basic period. Incidentally, the basic period importation has been changed and is now fixed as the average annual importation of each im porter during the three calendar years 1946, 1947, and 1948. According to the circular, vegetables in all forms will be placed under license and this includes such related items as canned vegetable soups, although pickles and condiments are specifically excluded. Potatoes are also excluded from the heading of vege tables and free import will be permitted. Onions which haa been restricted, for the period of May and June only, are now to be restricted until the end of 1949. It is generally considered that the proposed restriction on imports of vegetables — both fresh and canned — will work a very serious hardship on the public in general as the local production of fresh vege tables is far from sufficient to fill the needs of the public. A. decided shortage of vegetables and possible profiteering on the part of dealers is generally forecast. There is no change in the status of canned fruits except that the importation of canned pineapple has been restricted to 10% of importations during the basic period. This will not work any hardship at all on the public as the California Packing plant in Min danao could easily furnish far greater quantities than the total consumption. The canned and bottled beer quota previouslyfixed at 60% of importations during the basic period has now been reduced to 40 %> only. Wholesalers continue to report sales as being very limited in quantity. Retailers, however, report a slight pick-up of sales during the last week and expect a material .increase th;s month with the opening of the public schools. Automobiles and Trucks By C. Harold Helling General Motors Corporation UNITED STATES automobile and truck produc tion reached 2,493,670 units during the first five months of 1949, a record mark, surpass ing the 1948 mark for the same period by approxi mately 500,000 units. 10-INCH SUI’ER-QUIET FAN Plenty of cooling air whirled your way. by quiet Vortalex blades—ex clusive with G-E fans. Sturdy, streamlined blade guard. 2-speed switch. Felt-covered base. 12-INCH SUPER-QUIET FAN Whisper—quiet Vortalex blades, driven by a powerful G-E motor, hoosh volumes of cooling air for your comfort. 3-speed switch, for ready adjustment of air move ment. 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