226 



Assuming that 100 pikuls of copra yield 62 pikuls of oil, and 

 calculating the excess exports of all as copra, we get the following 

 figures : — 



The figures indicate that only in exceptional years does Singa- 

 pore island produce for export coconut products; but the variation 

 towards either ?ide is extraordinary. The average imports over the 

 8 years have been 1,113,492 pikuls of copra and of the 6 years, omitt- 

 ing 1910 and 1911, 1,054,362 pikuls; but in 1910— the most fruitful 

 year — there were imported 220,000 pikuls above this — a circumstance 

 to be attributed to the splendid crops, not only of Malacca (which 

 have been mentioned on page 221 above) but of the whole of the east 

 of the Peninsula and of many of the not-remote Dutch Indies. The 

 equivalent of this 220,000 pikuls was re-exported either as copra or as 

 oil, the excess of imports averaging 25,543 pikuls of copra dis- 

 appeared, and an export equal to 105,496 pikuls occurred. In 1913, 

 the registered imports were higher still ; but the tremendous excess 

 export of copra (as copra or as oil) has not been attained. 



The average prices of copra declared for export from Singapore 

 have been : — 



per pikul of 133.3 lbs. 



The areca-nuts in Singapore yielded in 1913 better than in 1912, 

 as the coconuts did, so that there has been an increase of exports ; but 

 on the whole they receive little attention. The figures for the last 

 five vears are: — 



