MARKETING COCONUTS AND COPRA 159 



opinion which would be further confirmed if they 

 knew how delicious it is when the milk is drunk from 

 a nut freshly gathered in its tropical home. Natives 

 will climb a 90-ft. tree with surprising nimbleness 

 to secure this pleasure for a traveller who is anxious 

 to slake his thirst. 



The greater portion of the copra arriving in 

 London is sold at the Commercial Sale Rooms in 

 Mincing Lane, for immediate or forward delivery. 

 Copra has now become such a valuable commodity, 

 for which there is such a free market, that it is possi- 

 ble to buy and sell it in Mincing Lane as easily as 

 first- class stocks and shares are sold on the Stock 

 Exchange. France is the greatest consumer of 

 copra in the world, the trade being mainly centred 

 at Marseilles, to which port the commodity is 

 shipped direct, a considerable percentage emanating 

 from the Middle East. Germany, England, America, 

 Holland, Belgium follow in order of importance. 

 The average freight for the product from the 

 producing centres to European ports is about 2 

 per ton. Generally speaking, consumers prefer to 

 import copra and express their own oil, finding that 

 they secure a finer, cleaner product by this method 

 than that extracted on the plantations. This is 

 the case with the big multiple-shop provision 

 companies, which make a speciality of coconut 

 butter, as we have already seen. 



The coconut industry commands some of the 



