THE COMMERCIAL VALUE OF THE COCONUT 5 



sent an appreciating, instead of a depreciating, 

 security. Some idea of the colossal scale of this 

 local consumption may be gathered from the fact 

 that hitherto the quantity of nuts exported appears 

 insignificant in comparison. In India and Ceylon, 

 for instance, coconuts form the staple food for 

 millions of natives. In China and the Far East 

 generally the demand is also enormous, and must 

 inevitably expand with the opening up of the vast 

 Republic. And in this connection it must be 

 remembered that the value of coconuts consumed 

 locally is precisely the same as that of nuts exported 

 to European and other markets, and that in the 

 event of competition between local and other 

 consumers the produce would naturally go to the 

 market where the highest prices prevailed. The 

 advantage would rest solely with the planter. 



Again, China must be an ever-increasing buyer 

 of coconut oil, and for the following among other 

 reasons. At the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese 

 War, when Manchuria had become a household 

 word to Europeans, and the products of the 

 country had been studied and were known in the 

 Western markets, great hopes were placed on the 

 oil from the Soya Bean as a substitute for some of 

 the more expensive edible oils. Oil producers in 

 Europe and America made a sudden raid on this 

 new commodity, and promised their buyers in turn 

 all the advantages of the fats they had previously 



