ii2 COCOA AND CHOCOLATE 



however, only one side of the art of buying. We have 

 to add to these a knowledge of the conditions prevail- 

 ing in the various markets of the world, a knowledge of 

 stocks and probable supplies, and given this know- 

 ledge, an ability to estimate their effect, together with 

 other conditions, agricultural, political and social, on 

 the price of the commodity. The room in which the 

 sales are conducted is not a large one, and usually 

 not more than a hundred people, buyers, pressmen, 

 etc., are present. Not a single cacao bean is visible, 

 and it might be an auction sale of property for all the 

 uninitiated could tell. The cacao is put up in lots. 

 Usually the sales proceed quietly, and it is difficult to 

 realize that many thousands of bags of cacao are chang- 

 ing hands. The buyers have perfect trust in the broker's 

 descriptions ; they know the invariable fair-play of 

 the British broker, which is a by-word the world over. 

 The machinery of the proceedings is lubricated by an 

 easy flow of humour. Sometimes a few bags of sea- 

 damaged cacao or of cacao sweepings are put up, and 

 a good deal of keenness is shown by the individuals 

 who buy this stuff. It is curious that a whole crowd of 

 busy people will allow their time to be taken up whilst 

 there is a spirited fight between two or three buyers 

 for a single bag. 



Whilst the London Auction Sales are of importance 

 as fixing the prices for the various markets, and reflect- 

 ing to a certain extent the position of supply and de- 

 mand, only a fraction of the world's cacao changes 

 hands at the Auction Sales, the greater part of it being 

 bought privately for forward delivery. 



Prices and Quotations. 



The price of cacao is liable to fluctuations like every 

 other product, thus in 1907 Trinidad cacao rose to one 

 shilling a pound, whilst there have been periods when 

 it has only fetched sixpence per pound. On April 2nd, 

 1918, the Food Controller fixed the prices of the finest 



