Manila hemp

Title

Manila hemp

Creator

Duncan, Robin

Language

English

Source

The American Chamber of Commerce Journal Volume XXX (Issue No. 6) June 1954

Year

1954

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

June, 1954 AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 239 United States-Philippine Trade Act. The Philip pine congress enacted the necessary legislation before its adjournment extending the present provisions for a further period of 18 months and similar legislation is now before the United States Congress for like action. 1953-54 Milling. Twelve of the 25 Centrals have finished milling for the 1953-54 crop, with a total produc tion of 752,438 short tons, while the Centrals still milling are estimated to produce 673,378 short tons, or a total of 1,425,826 short tons. The average of juice purities to date is 83.87. Manila Hemp By Robin Duncan Third Vice-President, Conrad & Co., Inc. DURING the first half of May, the New York market was dull and easy, as manufacturers showed no-in terest in buying on any reasonable scale. Davao machine-cleaned hemp was offered at: F ...............19-3/8»! 1..................18-3.4 S2..............17-1 2 JI................17-1,2 G................16-1,2 During the middle of the month, due to lower production and holding of stocks by dealers, prices rose sharply in Davao, which was reflected by higher offers in New York. By the end of May, there were offers of DAMC hemp at:— F................20j! 1.................19-1. 2 S2..............18-1, 2 JI............... 18-1, 2 G................17-3, 8 However, buyers were completely uninterested in meeting these prices, and little or no business resulted. Demand from Europe continued steady for both Davao and non-Davao fiber; prices rose during the month by $15 to $25 per ton for Davao hemp and slightly less for non Davao. By the end of the period under review, it became apparent that United Kingdom and Continental spinners had bought enough for their needs and would not follow the advance in prices, so the general tone of the market there ruled dull. On May 19, the Department of Foreign Affairs advised exporters that the Philippines,/Japan Trade Agreement had been further extended another 120 days. In spite of this, demand from Japan has not been as heavy as expected, as it was only on May 24 that the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry decided to go ahead and release the April/May/June quotas for the importation of abaca, and these figures are not expected before the middle of June. The rumor that a large quantity of abaca had been sold to Korea undoubtedly firmed up markets in the Philip pines, particularly in Cebu and the Bicol provinces. While exact details are not available, it seems clear that Korea did buy a sizeable amount, and at prices higher than the current Japanese market, so, in order to do business, Ja panese importers were forced to raise their prices $2 to $3 a bale, but the financial situation there made them un willing to follow the rise in general. Sales during May were also reported to South Africa, India, Australia, and New Zealand. We give below the usual statistics. Balings—January / April, iuclusive 1954 1953 1952 1951 1950 Davao.................................. 160,968 160,267 170,505 164,709 102,318 Albay, Camarints Sorsogon.................. 42,449 96,248 69,597 114,731 66,294 Leyte, Samar...................... 44,685 45,505 62,123 69,529 39,531 All others............................ 27,602 35,610 27,069 38,940 25,806 Total.............................. 275,704 337,630 329,294 387,909 233,949 .wp Now! 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Pinpin off Escolta Tel. 3-21-61 Exports—January, April, inclusive United States and Ca nada ................................. 61,069 Continent of Europe .... 63,471 United Kingdom.............. 48,231 Japan.................................... 67,460 South Africa..................... 3,345 China.................................... 1,741 India..................................... 1,740 Korea................................... — Australia and New Zea land................................... 2,500 Others.................................. 702 118,588 115,588 239,596 91,967 68,204 63,407 71,046 30,414 42,962 41,602 36,039 60,808 26,052 86,672 48,943 35,841 3,170 4,100 3,420 1,310 745 4,075 2,005 5,315 2,250 1,630 3,202 3,200 — — — 950 1,200 550 700 625 370 160 — — Total 250,259 324,161 ^67,_151 429,720 195,674 Tobacco By Luis A. Pujalte Wholesale Dealer & Exporter of Leaf Tobacco BUYING is not only going on in earnest in Pangasinan and La Union but at dangerously high prices. Farm ers in Pangasinan are being paid as high as P32 per quintal (100 lbs.) and in La Union up to ?40. Some farmers from Pangasinan, whose towns are near La Union, cart or truck their leaves to La Union to take advantage of the higher prices. This procedure is an infringement of Internal Revenue regulations, as the tobaccos from these provinces are not similar but have distinctly different characteristics. With the keen competition and great demand, they are getting away with it. These high prices paid to farmers by provincial deal ers are dangerous as they are way above the world market prices for tobacco and as consequently very little tobacco will be exported. Local consumption is not large enough to absorb the crop and manufacturers will not stock-up for future consumption at these high prices. Farmers were very enthusiastic due to the high prices paid last year and planted plenty of seedlings, but foul weather spoiled the fields and killed the seedlings and, as a consequence, there is a shorter crop this year. This has come two years in succession and the chances are that weather will be favorable this year. If so, with favorable weather and the farmers’ enthusiasm, this will spell an abundant crop, if not the bumper crop to be expected if weather is completely favorable. By early 1955 we may see the market weaken and then just roll down. Rice By Charles O. Houston, Jr. Director, Graduate School, University of Manila THE period reviewed is April 19 to May 15. The rising tendency which was noted in the preceding period continued throughout the first part of the current period, and then toward the end, stabilized at levels only slightly below those of last year. Toward the end of the period, it became apparent that the Administration was determined to resume loans through the ACCFA, and with the signing, by the President, of legislation setting aside P30,000,000 with an initial release of P 10,000,000 for this purpose, the market steadied and became firm, although sellers still were holding large quantities of stocks in anticipation of a general price rise. Some ob servers were disturbed by the announced program of the Philippine National Bank to grant “emergency” loans to sugar planters, as the original plan had been to utilize these funds in financing rice producers; these observers

pages

239-240

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