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As the stocks of old oil on hand are estimated at not more than 

 3000 kilos, and as moreover the new harvest will probably start with 

 high prices, all the conditions favour a continued firmness in this article, 

 and if the demand from abroad continues as at present, a further ad- 

 vance in the prices would not by any means be impossible, or even 

 improbable. 



As already mentioned above, the prospects of the new harvest are 

 very bad, in spite of the fact that the trees have blossomed very 

 abundantly in the spring. It has once more been proved that the 

 trees are not capable of producing two good crops one after the other; 

 after last year's rich harvest, the trees were this spring no longer able 

 to convert the wealth of blossoms into fruit, and in May and chiefly 

 in June the young fruits dropped off in large numbers, so that at 

 present the coming crop is estimated at barely half that of last year. 

 The proprietors of the gardens are consequently very reserved, and 

 not inclined to any forward sales. The new manufacturing season will 

 therefore probably commence with very high prices, which will move 

 approximately on the basis of 20 marks. The subsequent movement 

 of the price will then depend essentially upon the greater or smaller 

 demand from abroad. As it may be assumed that the foreign con- 

 sumers, owing to the heavy export of bergamot oil in the course of this 

 year, are now generally well supplied with oil, it is possible that this 

 may put a limit to the exaggerated demands of the manufacturers of 

 bergamot oil. 



Lemon Oil. This article has during the last six months passed 

 through such stormy and excited times, as probably never before to 

 such an extent. Whilst in April the prices stood at 5,80 marks, they 

 have since risen to 11,25 marks, at which level they have now for 

 some time firmly maintained themselves. 



The reasons of this exceptionally large increase in the prices are 

 various. In my spring report I already expressed the fear that the 

 quantities of oil produced in the last manufacturing season would barely 

 suffice to meet the world's consumption, and this fear has been comple- 

 tely realised, as the whole of the oil at present still in Sicily is estimated 

 at scarcely 15000 kilos, such a small quantity, that under normal 

 conditions it would not cover the demand of one single autumn month. 



Another occurrence which contributed towards the rise was the 

 fact, which became apparent at the commencement of the upward 

 movement, that several large export firms in our town had made un- 

 covered sales abroad for very large quantities of lemon oil, and were 

 now compelled to appear on the market with a strong demand whilst 

 prices independently of this were advancing. This commenced in the 

 first days of May, when the prices had risen to 6,15 marks; in the 

 course of that month they reached the level of 6,50 marks, and they 



