Copra and coconut oil

Title

Creator

Day, Kenneth B.

Keller, D. C.

Language

English

Source

The American Chamber of Commerce Journal Volume XXVII (Issue No. 5) May 1951

Year

1951

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

160 AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL May, 1951 MINERAL PRODUCTION FOR MARCH, 1951 Oz. Tons Milled Silver Oz. Gold Atok-Big Wedge Mining Co., Inc.... 15,041 2,467 3,936 Balatoc Mining Company.................... 41,356 5,351 8,096 Benguet Consolidated Mining Co.... 32,913 5,313 8,040 Lepanto Consolidated Mining Co.... 30,183 — 3,149 Mindanao Mother Lode Mines, Inc........................................................... 9,500 4,875 4,730 Surigao Consolidated Mining Co., Inc........................................................... 9,369 2,154 3,400 Tambis Gold Dredging Co., Inc........ 19,140 cu.yd. 126 Surigao Placer Syndicate...................... 45,000 196 Consolidated Mines, Inc....................... 29,000 M. T. refractory chromite Lepanto Consolidated Mining Co.... 961 M.T. metallic copper Mindanao Mother Lode Mines, Inc........................................................... 27 M.T. Surigao Consolidated Mining Co., Inc........................................................... 43 M.T. Philippine Iron Mines, Inc.................. 36,160 M.T. iron ore Samar Mining Company, Inc............. 36,565 M.T. ” ” Copra and Coconut, Oil By K. B. Day and D. C. Keller Philippine Refining Company, Inc. DURING the period under review prices in the copra market continued to fall steadily; offers of $265 per ton c.i.f. Pacific Coast on the 16th March, which went unaccepted, had dropped to $245 on the 16th April without attracting any substantial buying interest. Daily advices from the Coast these four weeks reported with unfailing regularity “Market dead, no buyers” and we are sure that if any business was effected the volume was too insignificant to be worthy of comment. A similar trend was observed in Europe where a fall was recorded of from $315 at the beginning of the period to $292-1/2 on April 14. Following a really severe fall of £10 per ton during the last week of the preceding period, the Singapore market registered a further decline of yet another £4 in the four weeks under review. Nominal quota tions on March 17 were £124 c.i.f. Europe and £120 offered on April 14 resulted in very little enquiry. No advice has been received of the Ceylon market but we gather that little if any business has been transacted. As is often the case, Europe was short of dollars for copra and oil pur chases. On the local market copra prices were, as usual, reluc tant to keep pace with the downward trend of the world markets and lagged sufficiently behind to make trading extremely difficult. Despite this tardiness, however, prices fell from P51 per 100 kilos on March 16 to P46 on the April 15. While the tonnage traded at these prices was not very substantial, sufficient quantities were outstanding on old contracts to keep the market from registering a much sharper decline. Oil prices in the United States followed the copra market. Offers of 21/ per pound c.i.f. New York on March 15 were not accepted and during the ensuing four weeks only a minute amount of business was done, with the result that prices had fallen to 19/ on April 16 and buyers were still abstaining from a market which was obviously going to fall still further. There is no doubt that the buyers, by existing on what we can only imagine as fairly substantial stocks, have the whip-hand and are happily steering the market down to a point which can only result in considerable losses for those traders and mills which bought high-priced copra in the March boom period. Buyers in Europe, closely following the American pattern, have been sitting on the fence and have contentedly watched the price of oil drop from $475 per long ton c.i.f. to $450, which was a purely nominal quotation on April 15. MORE POWER TO THE PHILIPPINES j! Product of General using Starters. General Electric Magnetic A-C Starters, found throughout the industrial and business areas of the Philippines, are noted fortheir ease of installation and opera tion. Protection to the operator and the motor are prime factors for General Electric Magnetic A-C Electric Co., U.S.A. GENERAL ELECTRIC (Pl), INC. PORT AREA MANILA May, 1951 AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 161 It is apparent that the falling market has been due to a great extent to the recent successes of United Nations forces in Korea which have lessened the tendency on the part of stockpilers to maintain high inventories; conse quently manufacturers have been living off their stocks without making any serious efforts at replacement. Such is the peculiarity of this business, however, that a sudden reversal of the fortunes of our forces on the war front would almost certainly see a change in the copra and oil markets. Prices would stiffen and then begin to climb according to the seriousness of the situation, while a hasty scramble would ensue to replace stocks. One pleasant feature of this period was a slight rise in the copra meal market: prices rose from $56 c and f Pacific Coast at the beginning, to $59 c and f at the close; a small but steady volume of business was reported. The shipping problem remains unchanged; while space for America is reasonably adequate, the situation regarding Europe is becoming increasingly hopeless, partic ularly for copra. With little buying interest, however, this has not proved as distressing as it might otherwise have been, but we sincerely trust that more space will be made available for Manila in the future. Figures submitted for March shipments are as follows: • COPRA Guam.............................................................. Pacific.............................................................. Atlantic.......................................................... Canada........................................................... Japan.............................................................. Italy................................................................ Belgium. .'..................................................... Denmark........................................................ Norway........................................................... Holland........................................................... 6,470 19,266 2,600 1,800 2,518 500 5,950 1,000 1,500 500 1. tons 42,lt>4 1. tons This shows a drastic reduction from the 72,598 tons shipped out in February; oil shipments however were up from 3,456 tons to 5,243 tons. Destinations were as follows: COCONUT OIL Atlantic.......................................................... 2,880 1. tons China.............................................................. 342 ” Belgium.......................................................... 1,296 *’ Holland........................................................... 500 ” Italy................................................................ 225 ” 5,243 1. tons TjiNAL figures for 1950 show a total coconut crop in terms of copra of over 1,000,000 tons, the best year on record barring the unusual 1947. With an even break in weather and reasonable price levels, 1951 should at least equal and perhaps exceed 1950. Meanwhile in the face of dropping prices and with the period of heavier production still some two months off, Philippine sellers with a fair backlog of profitable un shipped commitments, were not inclined, at the close of the period, to trade freely, but preferred to stand on the sidelines and await developments, which with the world in its present state, and with the acts of governments so important, are always most unpredictable. Desiccated Coconut By Howard H. Curran Assistant General Manager Peter Paul Philippine Corporation THIS report covers the period from March 15 to April 15, during which most of the factories continued to stay shutdown or run on restricted production. Copra INSULAR LUMBER COMPANY FABRICA, OCC. NEGROS —--- ¥-------SPECIALISTS IN KILN DRIED LUMBER and MANUFACTURERS OF BOXES OF ALL DESCRIPTIONS MANILA DISTRIBUTORS: Norton & Harrison Company 814 Echague Manila D. C. Chuan & Sons, Inc. 14-30 Soler St. Manila 1 nsular Saw Mill, Inc. 310 Canonigo, Paco Manila MANILA OFFICE-. 401 FILIPINAS BUILDING

pages

160-161

Media