— 52 — 



Clove Oil. Thanks to our timely purchases we have not been continually 

 under the necessity during the last few months of revising our quotations in 

 sympathy with the advance in the clove market. We have generally been 

 able to offer the article considerably cheaper than our competitors, with 

 the result that an extremely brisk business has been carried through. It 

 has now been shown that the course of the clove prices during last year 

 was not influenced by speculation, but by the actual result of the crop, 

 and that the advance was warranted is clear from the fact that the summer 

 crop of 1910 consisted of only about 40000 bales, whereas in the winter 

 of 1909/1910 the result of the harvest is said to have been about 85000 bales. 

 In consequence, the prices at Hamburg rose from about 54 &ft per 50 kilos 

 towards the end of September to about 69 cM per 50 kilos at the end of 

 the year, and have since then increased further to as much as 75 o4£ per 

 50 kilos. The preliminary report of the winter crop of 1910 to 1911, which 

 has just been gathered, indicates a result of about 39500 bales, and as 

 at all the principal centres the supplies seem to have shrunk considerably, 

 the logical result appears to be that for the present high, if not increased, 

 prices are to be looked for, especially because it is still too early at the 

 present time to make any estimates of the probable result of the current 

 year's summer crop. 



The position of the clove stem market is unchanged, and for the rea- 

 sons already advanced the prices have remained so high that we have 

 come to the decision not to distil any more clove stem oil until more 

 favourable conditions of value have returned. If the outrageous prices 

 now demanded are taken as basis for calculation, it will be found that 

 there is so little difference between the cost of clove stem oil and of 

 clove oil, that consumers justly prefer to use the last-named article. 



The particulars supplied by the German Consulate at Zanzibar 

 concerning the clove exports in 1909 are reproduced below in order to 

 complete our statistics of the article. 



The report states that the clove exports from Zanzibar in the year 

 1909 reached 20285001 lbs., of a value of 4956142 rupees, as compared 

 with 14974872 lbs., value 3974398 rupees in 1908. In 1909, cloves accounted 

 for 36,6 °/o of the total exports from Zanzibar. 



The total shipments were distributed as follows: — 



1908 1909 





Quantity 

 lbs. 



Value 

 Rupees 



Quantity 

 lbs. 



Value 

 Rupees 



Europe .... 



7 197 375 



1 894 363 



10 638 889 



2 596 630 



U. S. of America 



651 780 



184 578 



2 364 940 



589 941 



Asia 



7 051342 



1876 332 



7 183 252 



1 746 728 



Africa .... 



74 375 



18 725 



97 920 



22 843. 



The shipments to Europe were distributed as follows: 



