— 53 



crystals for forward delivery at low prices, and to be compelled 

 shortly to cover these. Knowing this, the Japanese are holding back 

 offers, although the stocks in Japan must still be very heavy, and at 

 the end of year were estimated at 150000 to 180000 lbs. The 

 stocks in London and Hamburg are probably also fairly large, and 

 moreover were bought dear, so that in both these places the tendency 

 will be to keep the prices up. 



The disposition in Japan is at this moment firm. The Japanese 

 explain this in the following manner: — the cultivation of peppermint 

 in the coming season will probably be greatly restricted, as the farmers 

 do not find the present prices remunerative. The intention is, in 

 case of need to warehouse the stocks and wait for better times. 

 In this connection, however, the Japanese appear to forget that 

 peppermint oil is not an article which lends itself to warehousing, as 

 the quality suffers from age and from prolonged contact with the tin 

 of the cases. To store the oil up for many years is therefore out of 

 the question. 



In our opinion the present value is low, and it does not appear 

 advisable to speculate for still lower prices. 



The total shipments from Japan of liquid oil and menthol during 

 the year 1905, are as follows: — 





Peppermint Oil 



Menthol 



January 



32325 



kin. 



23391 kin. 



February 



29400 



» 



21304 » 



March 



25345 



}j 



25982 „ 



April 



19350 



>> 



15635 » 



May 



7521 



>> 



I45I7 » 



June 



942 



» 



6472 „ 



July 



5321 



)> 



5193 » 



August 



8409 



jj 



6167 „ 



September 



7032 



?) 



1725 » 



October 



6567 



» 



8i37 » 



November 



13470 



» 



15377 » 



December about 



12000 



„ about 



13000 „ 



Total 167684 kin 



156900 kin 

 167684 „ 



Total oil and crystals 324584 kin a 600 gm. 

 e= 194750 kilos. 



According to the Financial and Economic Year book of Japan, 

 published by the Imperial Ministry of Finance at Tokyo, the total 

 value of the shipments of peppermint oil to the individual countries 

 during the previous five years was as follows: — 



