— 66 — 



Nor is there any doubt that the shortage existing on this market is 

 not yet entirely covered, and that foreign buyers also still have numerous 

 requirements to provide for, because the oil bought by them is hardly 

 likely to suffice for more than six months' consumption. 



To all the foregoing facts is to be added that the events set forth above 

 have produced a local speculation in the article, the total effect of which 

 cannot be left out of consideration. The local speculators have sufficient 

 funds at their disposal, and will only decide to give up their bull- 

 speculation if late in the autumn a rich new crop should be imminent; 

 in any case speculation will be kept alive throughout the summer, and 

 the bulls will endeavour to make good their position to the best of 

 their ability. 



Everything considered it therefore appears that during the coming 

 six months the article will be rather inclined towards higher than towards 

 lower prices. 



Mandarin Oil. As already stated in our October Report, the crop 

 of mandarins has been exceptionally bad, the long continued drought and 

 heat having prevented the development of the fruit in most districts, with 

 the result that generally the fruit has remained too small to make it 

 possible to work it up for oil, apart from the fact that owing to its low oil 

 content it would not have been remunerative to do so. In these conditions 

 only a few hundred kilos of oil have been prepared, and at an early date 

 the prices of the article rose from cM 36. — to o4i 62. — , from which, by 

 sudden bounds, they reached a limit of cM 76. — . It may be said that 

 practically all the stock is now cleared, and that there will be no more 

 oil available until the next crop. A small parcel of less than 10 kilos 

 has within the last few days realised the unheard-of price of &41 95.—. 



Orange Oil, bitter. Very little bitter orange oil has been prepared 

 this year, the crop of bitter oranges having been poor, while the owners 

 found it more advantageous to ship the fruit boxed than to work it for 

 oil. The first new arrivals of oil realised o4i 12.75, but since then the 

 price has steadily risen and is now about c4i 15. — . As compared with 

 the corresponding period of previous seasons, the present stocks are 

 diminutive. 



Orange Oil, sweet. Sweet orange oil had fallen in the course of 

 the summer to c4t 11. — , and during the months preceding the new crop 

 was maintained at a figure of about o4t 11.50. There was no inducement 

 for the manufacturers to prepare new oil at those rates, and from the 

 beginning they therefore restricted their output as far as possible. 



The result was that in November a want of available supplies made 

 itself felt, and that the prices were run up, until about the middle of 

 December they had rapidly advanced to c4t 13. — . At these more profit- 

 able rates manufacturing was resumed with great zeal, but as a matter 



