Desiccated coconut

Title

Desiccated coconut

Creator

Curran, Howard H. 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

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 162 AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL May, 1951 started to go down about the middle of the period and lower prices are expected. Price control in the United States on desiccated co conut continues, and the Philippine Desiccated Coconut Manufacturers Association has requested the Philippine Government to make representation to the United States Government to place desiccated coconut on the uncontrolled list with copra and coconut oil. Shipping statistics for the month of March follows: Shippers Pounds Franklin Baker Co. of Phil.................................... 2,556,800 Blue Bar Coconut Co.*............................................... 1,053,720 Peter Paul Philippine Corporation............................ none Red-V Coconut Products, Ltd............................. 2,575,300 Sun-Ripe Coconut Products, Inc......................... 705,000 Standard Coconut Corp......................................... none Cooperative Coconut Products..................................... ” Tabacalera........................................................................... ” Coconut Products (Phil.) Inc................................ 185,275 7,076,095 ’Zamboanga factory production .................................... 415,600 lbs. Lusacan ” " 638.120 ” Total Blue Bar shipment.................................................. 1,053,720 ” Partly because of the uncertainty of future pricing possibilities under the United States ceiling-price regulations and partly because of large inventories built up in the United States by the heavy shipments made by Philippine producers during the second half of 1950, there was a slackening Of production activity. A number of mills closed down entirely during the month of April and the remaining ones operated at much reduced capacity. There are reports that a new price-control order is being drafted by government agencies in Washington, granting relief to the desiccated coconut industry, and with some improvement in the supply and demand situa tion, most mills are making plans to resume operations in May at least on a limited scale. Manila Hemp By Fred Guettinger Vice-President and General Manager Macleod and Company of Philippines THIS review covers the period from March 16 to April 15. Abaca prices have remained about unchanged during the period. A fair business was done to Europe but as usual the United States continued to absorb the bulk of the Philippine production. Business to Japan was negligible and is likely to continue so until current nego tiations for an increased or amended quota are concluded. Pressings for March were 94,319 bales—a decline of 6,667 bales from February’s record figure. March pres sings, however, were 31,459 bales higher than March, 1950. Davao balings were 43,974 bales—up 5,527 bales from February, and non-Davao 50,345 bales—down 12,194 bales from February. The seasonal decline for non-Davao has set in and it is unlikely that the non-Davao figures for the rest of the year will, in any one month, reach the average of the January/February/March production. The following are the comparative figures for balings for the first three months of 1947 through 1951: Balings—January-March Inclusive 1951 1950 1949 1948 1947 Davao................................... 122,446 75,456 54,729 55,010 82,636 Albay, Camarines and Sorsogon.......................... 86,356 50,790 36,569 66,623 60,588 NOV// FOR THE FIRST TIME Silvertown NON SKID DESIGN Silvertown TREAD DEPTH TREAD WIDTH Silvertown COLD RUBBER Goodrich International Rubber Co. OFFICE & BODEGA 13th & ATLANTA, PORT AREA TEL. No. 3-37-21 RECAP PLANT 207 RIZAL AVE. EXT., GRACE PARK TEL. No. 2-72-23

pages

161-162

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