Copra and coconut oil

Title

Creator

Igual, Manuel

Contributor

Day, Kenneth B.

Language

English

Source

The American Chamber of Commerce Journal Volume XXIV (Issue No. 8) August 1948

Year

1948

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

August, 1948 AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 297 commission, and sales tax, the whole averaging around P44 per 1,000 board feet, to get at his net f.o.b. price at the mill. On a production of a fair percentage of Red Lauan, Apitong, and White Lauan of say 40%, 25%, and 35% respectively, producers get about Pl 10 net f.o.b. steamer at their mill, and their cost ranges between P120 to P140 per 1,000 board feet. A few exporters may be able to improve on their over all average f.o.b. price, but the great majority of pro ducers are practically entirely dependent on the local mar ket and should not hope for any improvement until the rainy season is over. PACIFIC MERCHANDISING CORPORATION John R. Wagner, Pres. 209 Rosario Manila Copra and Coconut Oil June 16 to July 15 EXCLUSIVELY REPRESENTING By Manuel Igual General Manager, El Dorado Trading Company, Inc. and Kenneth B. Day President, Philippine Refining Company FROM the viewpoint of the Philippine copra producer and the average copra dealer, the period under review was a most disspiriting one. Export prices declined steadily throughout the month, and registered an overall drop of approximately $50 a ton. Large operators, how ever, both in the Philippines and in the United States, profited greatly by this trend, for they sold heavily for future shipments as the market went down, which they were in a position to cover in very profitably later on. The weak spot was Europe, which had been expected to be a strong consumer of copra and to bolster the market at about the $300 level. European buying, however, was largely controlled by the ECA (European Cooperative Administration), and European buyers were smart in taking on future shipments rather than spot, thus prevent ing the bulge .which nearly everybody had expected to occur late June or early July. On the Coast, where buyers were bidding $310 c.i.f. on June 16, the price gradually drifted down without any reaction to a low of $260 c.i.f. as the period ended. Some copra was sold on the decline, but the volume was not very great and buyers were continually backing away. Most of the business was for prompt shipment. Eventually sellers who had been hoping for better things, became re conciled to the essentially weak tone of the market, and as the period ended, were prepared to sell moderately, an ticipating even further declines. lUTeanwhile, coconut oil was in very light demand, with, however, occasionally small spot interest from edible consumers ranging from 25 i down to 22 i. Large inedible consumers were not interested in these prices, but did take on a fair volume of future business for the last quarter of the year ranging from 20^ down to 19 i per lb. f.o.b. Coast, which discounted the copra market radically at the time of sale. The encouraging factor, if any, in this whole picture was that by the drop in coconut oil, reflected in copra, the spread between tallow, which held fairly firm at 17 to 18 i, and coconut oil was greatly narrowed. It has long been felt that once coconut oil and tallow were nearly in balance, large consumers would renew their interest in coconut oil, and would be willing to buy larger quantities for further future positions, thus doing much to re-stabilize pre-war conditions. It appears that the developments during this period showed considerable promise in this direction. T ocal prices both for copra and coconut oil followed closely the export trends. In Manila, copra sold down from P62 to P47 and in Cebu from P62 to P50, CORBIN LOCK COMPANY AMERICAN RADIATOR & STANDARD SANITARY CORPORATION NATIONAL CARBON CO., INC. “Eveready” flashlights & batteries LINDE AIR PRODUCTS CO., INC. “Union” Carbide THE PARAFFINE COMPANIES, INC. “Pabco” Products AMES BALDWIN WYOMING COMPANY BALL BROS. MASON JARS WEST BEND ALUMINUM COMPANY MALLEABLE IRON FITTINGS CO. FAIRBURY WINDMILL CO. CAPEWELL MANUFACTURING CO. SLOAN VALVE COMPANY BOMMER SPRING HINGE COMPANY HUBBARD & COMPANY COLUMBUS COATED PRODUCTS CO. KEENEY MANUFACTURING COMPANY BADGER METER MANUFACTURING CO. DICK BROTHERS MANUFACTURING CO. A. B. STRAUB CO. LIGGETT SPRING & AXLE COMPANY STEEL PRODUCTS HOUSE FURNISHINGS GENERAL HARDWARE PLUMBING 298 AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL August, 1948 Cebu interest being chiefly to cover export commitments. Coconut oil dropped from Pl.13 to P.92 per kilo. Copra and oil exports for June were light, and the preliminary figures are as follows: Pacific Coast ports......................................................... 13,571 Atlantic Coast ports............................................... 2,876 Gulf ports..................................................................... 3,271 Europe........................................................ 18,693 Total.............................................................. 38,411 tons There was very little interest in copra cake because of lack of dollars in Europe, but indicated quotations dropped from S72 per ton f.o.b. to $65. Generally speaking, the equivalent of copra meal on the Coast was better than these figures. T2y July 15, we were entering the heavy copra producing season. Arrivals were somewhat better than have been anticipated, but it was the general feeling that there would be nothing spectacular about arrivals even in August, and that prices have fallen so far that they actually serve as a deterrent to production. The "$64 question” was whether the market was overcommitted for July/August shipment. The general impression was that, while .con siderable quantities have been sold, some dealers were in a slightly long position, and that there was little in the pic ture to indicate a squeeze anywhere along the line. In fact, by mid-July, the steam was completely out of the market, and dealers were reconciling themselves to sub stantially lower prices in August and September. All of this is discouraging from the viewpoint of revenue for Philippine producers and export balances for the Philip pine Government, but from a long range point of view, this turn was to be expected eventually, although the velocity and extent of the current drop has exceeded all calculations. Desiccated Coconut By Howard R. Hick President and General Manager Peter Paul Philippine Corporation THIS report covers the period from June 15 to July 15. Raw-material procurement has been easy, with an abundant supply of nuts available. This is due to the fact that this is the season of the year when nuts are large and most plentiful. Because of the plentiful supply, the desiccated coconut manufacturers were able to purchase nuts at prices very close to copra equivalent values. However, during this period, copra prices have dropped so rapidly that daily delivery prices have generally been considerably above the daily copra market quotation, as most buying is done on a contract basis, contracts being made for a week to 10 days at a time. Most of the factories are now running at full capacity and some have even worked a 7-day week in order to increase their capacity. One factory, the Red V Coconut Products, Ltd., has increased its production with additional machin ery at the Dalahican factory in Quezon Province. The total amount of desiccated coconut shipped during the month of June was 9,629,960 lbs., with the July production figures promising to break the 10,000,000 lb. mark. The following are the shipping statistics for the month of June: Blue Bar Coconut Products Co................................. 2,146,260 lbs. Cooperative Coconut Products................................... None Franklin Baker Co. of the Philippines.................... 4,105,100 ” Isabelo S. Hilario............................................................ 97,000 ” Luzon Desiccated Coconut Co.................................... None Peter Paul Philippine Corp.......................................... 1,680,100 ” ATLANTIC GULF 1& PACIFIC COMPANY OF MANILA EXECUTIVE & SALES OFFICE 222 REGINA BUILDING TEL. 2-83-64 • ENGINEERING DEPT. & SHOPS PUNTA, SANTA ANA TEL. 8-63-32 • • ENGINEERS • -CONTRACTORS • • DISTRIBUTORS FOR FAIRBANKS MORSE & CO. GARDNER DENVER «CO. CHAIN BELT CO. ARMCO INTERNATIONAL CORP. PIONEER ENGINEERING WORKS YORK CORPORATION LINCOLN ELECTRIC CO. WALSH REFRACTORIES CORP. MARION POWER SHOVEL CO.

pages

297-298

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