DATE -FRUITS. 



147 



simply filled into large boxes, baskets, bags, etc., and imported 

 in that state. 



The following statement shows the average prices per cwt. 

 of the different kinds of dates in each of the principal ports 

 during the year October, 1914, to September, 1915. 



TABLE XXVI. 



Data from Commercial Intelligence Department, India. 



* Note. The rates were nominal for the first eleven months of the period owing to the 

 unsettled conditions arising from the war. Rs. 10 to Rs. 12 is the usual average rate per 

 cwfc. 



These figures indicate that it is more profitable to preserve 

 the dates by drying off only as much moisture as will keep them 

 from fermenting, than to dry them hard, as much weight is lost 

 in the latter process apparently without a corresponding rise in 

 market price to compensate for that. The prices against the 

 dates in boxes, tins, etc., bear out the statement that the quantity 

 of fruits imported packed for dessert or sweetmeat purposes, 

 is negligible. The returns for the 5 years ending 31st March 

 1915, show that the annual value of dates imported by sea into 

 India is from over 350,000 to over 400,000, and that the average 

 wholesale price per Ib. is slightly less than one penny (see 

 Table XXV). From the dates grown in India or imported into 

 it by land or sea, there were apparently, from over 1,300 to 

 over 1,900 tons of fruits exported annually in the past 5 years 

 (see Table XXVII, page 148), and their value was from over 

 14,000 to over 20,000 (see Table XXVIII, page 149). 



