Lumber

Title

Lumber

Creator

Reyes, Luis J.

Language

English

Year

1949

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

that exist, not only on this island, but on many others, to pro duce corn and rice on a large scale through mechanized farm-* ing. One of them mentioned that there was room for half a dozen large corporations or organizations in this one island alone, each farming around 100,000 acres. What they said about this particular island, is true of many others, they reiterated, especially Mindanao. Rice and corn are annual crops and do not require years to grow. With tractors and other machines, large acreages can rapidly be cultivated and planted. In a matter of several months, the crops are ready for harvesting. Where there is plenty of food, there is contentment, and the cost of living is low. A low cost of living has its bene ficial effect, not only on mining, but on all other activities. As stated before, this could be done very quickly with big corporations, large acreages, and many tractors. One season would change the entire picture, but it must be done on a large scale to be effective. The corporation, so far, is the only instrument that has been found capable of doing this type of job in a hurry. A plentiful supply of corn and rice would do more to bring the cost of living back to pre-war levels than anything else. This would naturally reduce the large number of dollars now going out for the purchase of the immense quantities of rice necessary to make up the 40% deficit. GOVERNMENT officials and business men recog nize that in order to increase exports, and add to the wealth of the nation, mining, once the No. 2 industry, must be brought back to its pre-war status. The country needs more producing mines, but lack of venture capital, and the high cost of living, have acted as deterrents so far, preventing the opening up of many promising prospects. In 1934, venture capital invested in mining re sulted in the development of a number of meritorious exposures, which eventually became the mines of to day. This brought about a mining boom in the Phil ippines in the midst of a world-wide depression. The same thing could happen again if venture capital were available. At the present time the general public has no venture capital for mining, but if the Philippine Gov ernment, through one of its various agencies, could see its way to- allocate merely Pl,000,000 of venture capital, for the proving up of — say, twenty meri torious prospects — there is no question but that a number of them would, eventually, become the mines of tomorrozv, and offer opportunities for investors to make money. One or two good finds would serve to prime the market and result in the loosening up of private funds for use in an intensified search for, and development of, other mines, and with a lower cost of living, brought about by a reduction in the price of rice, mining would once more be on its way to resume its position as a leading, if not the leading industry of the Philippines. Lumber By Luis J. Reyes Philippine Representative. Penrod, Jurden & Clark Company THE total lumber export for the month of July amounted to 3,505,004 bd. ft., of which 2,245,371 bd. ft. were logs and 1,259,633 bd. ft., sawn lumber. Half of this amount went to the United States, 40% to Japan, and the rest to four other coun tries. Importers of Philippine mahogany (lauan and tangile) in the United States still think that our prices should come down in order to meet the stiff competition offered by African and Mexican maho ganies. The Philippine Mahogany Import Association in the United States, held its Annual Convention recent ly at Colorado Springs. Though business has been poor during the past six months, there was optim ism, and the delegates believed that Philippine maho gany will eventually recapture its lost market. A need was felt for more effective advertising, and, in this connection, ways and means have been agreed upon. The Philippine Lumber Producers Associa tion also has had under consideration for some time a possible levy on all exports for advertising. With these two organizations thus working hand in hand, Philippine woods face a brighter prospect in the United States market. Manila wholesale prices have gone down from P10 to P15 per 1000 bd. ft. as compared with the pre vious month. Prices in Manila are reported as fol lows : P125 to P130 per 1000 for white lauan, P135 for apitong, and P140 to P150 for tangile and red lauan. These prices are lowest since liberation and seems to be due to the general business recession and, to a certain extent, the rainy weather. More mills in the provinces have suspended operation. In Japan, prices of Philippine logs have likewise gone down, with some companies quoting $58.50 c.i.f., but there were some transactions on a barter basis in which the price quoted was $57 c.i.f. It has been reported that Japan is beginning to take an increa singly large volume of Borneo lauan logs, which are quoted at a lower price than the Philippine logs. It is claimed, however, that Borneo shipments are com posed of several species of “lauans” some of them sinkers,* and that the shipments are not as well pre pared for export as Philippine logs. Even before the war, Japan tried Borneo and Sumatra logs, but even tually turned to the Philippines for most of the logs to supply their mills. •Editor’s Note:—Logs which sink when thrown overboard at point of destination and which may therefore be lost unless loaded into barges, thia entailing higher transportation costs. Copra and Coconut Oil By Manuel Igual Executive Vice President, El Dorado Oil Works and Kenneth B. Day President, Philippine Refining Company, Inc. July 16 to August 15, 1949 IN the very height of the copra season and in spite of the fact that coconut oil is very much out of line with competing oils and fats and particu larly with tallow, instead of the gradually declining prices we anticipated, we have seen a steady copra market throughout the period under review, with a sharp upward surge at the close. Three circumstances have contributed to this sit uation. The first is a very definite shortage of copra and coconut oil in the United States for immediate and prompt delivery. This has been explained by European correspondents as follows: “Early this year, all the ‘pipelines’ were filled and con sumers, retailers, and wholesalers were all well stocked. It is hardly surprising that with prospects of large new crops ahead there was a general tendency to reduce stock without replacing. Subsequent events point to the fact that by earl} summer the ‘pipelines’ were empty. Persistent premiums for spot and early delivery bear this out. There was, however, still insufficient confidence in the future to encourage buy 394

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