COMMERCE 493 



from a merchant in that country or through a cocoa 

 merchant in Europe. 



By either of such means the manufacturer in Europe 

 can pay the freight and insurance, and the merchant 

 abroad has simply to deliver his cocoa on board the 

 ship (" f.o.b." = free on board). Or the cost of freight 

 is included in the price, indicated by " c. & f." (which 

 means, cost and freight included), or, not only is the 

 freight included, but also the insurance (indicated with 

 "c.i.f.," viz. cost, insurance, and freight included). 



It will be clear that prices differ according to the 

 manner in which the transaction is made, either " loco," 

 f.o.b., c. &, or c.i.f. In these dealings may also be 

 included the loss in weight of the cocoa during the 

 voyage, in respect of which special mention is made 

 when the transaction is done f.o.b., c. & , or c. i. f. 



MARKET PRICES OF DIFFERENT SORTS OF COCOA 



In the beginning of this chapter a short description 

 was given of the most important sorts of cocoa, and it 

 was stated that there were great differences in character 

 and quality according to the country in which the cocoa 

 was grown. 



Though in this way each country occupies a special 

 place as regards quality, it is difficult to indicate exactly 

 the right place for each country. The reason lies in the 

 fact, that in some countries the produce is very unequal 

 and comes to the market in very different qualities. 



On general lines the most important sorts of market 

 cocoa may be compared as follows. 



The highest prices are paid for the cocoa of the 

 western parts of Venezuela, first of all for " Maracaibo " 

 and " Porto Cabello," and secondly for " Caracas " ; then 

 follows the Ecuador cocoa, with " Arriba " first, and at a 

 distance " Balao " and " Machala " ; close to these follows 

 " Trinidad." From Java and Ceylon, however, the best 

 brands are higher priced than both Ecuador and Trinidad, 

 but, on the other hand, very inferior lots come to the 



