— 18 — 



The shipments in 1905 from Colombo and Galle were: — 

 to the United States of America . . . 601 706 lbs. 



„ the United Kingdom 398700 „ 



„ Germany I93 33 1 „ 



„ Australia 60288 „ 



„ France IJ 9 2 5 » 



„ China 10 499 „ 



„ India 3645 „ 



„ Belgium 2 161 „ 



„ the Straits Settlements 216 „ 



Total in 1905 1 282471 lbs. 

 as against: „ 1904 1 133068 „ 



;, 1903 1027486 „ 

 „ 1902 1294750 „ 

 On the other hand, the January shipments of a total of only 

 19 61 8 lbs. show such an enormous falling off, as compared with a 

 monthly average export of about 100 000 lbs., that this fact appears 

 to explain completely the lack of available goods and the high price 

 of the same. It is only natural that this should influence forward 

 deliveries, and the general situation will probably not become normal 

 again until supply and demand have adjusted themselves to some 

 extent. As already indicated above, speculators have aggravated the 

 situation by buying up the available stocks in Europe, a step which 

 could be carried out with a small amount of capital in view of the 

 comparatively small quantities of oil. 



In Ceylon, the distilling already came to an end in December, and 

 as all the labourers are employed on the rice-fields in January, the 

 work on the citronella grass-fields came for the time being completely to 

 an end. Stocks are already cleared out, oil for early delivery is all con- 

 tracted for, so that only later deliveries come under consideration. It 

 is therefore possible that the position may become even more acute, 

 and that the adjustment between supply and demand will only take place 

 when stocks have again accumulated in the principal consuming countries. 

 We have been able, by placing our contracts in good time, to 

 supply our clients fully, and we have also contracts running for April 

 shipment which are shortly due. 



Under these circumstances it is for the present out of the question 

 that prices will go back, much less that the values formerly considered 

 normal will again be reached. 



C. E. Sage 1 ) reports on a Ceylon citronella oil distilled at the 

 Experimental Station established by the Government at Peradeniya. 



*) Chemist and Druggist 68 (1906), 355. 



