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Although this year it is impossible at the present time to give accurate 

 statistical figures, it may be maintained with justice and on good grounds 

 that the export of essential oil in the course of the year 1908 has not 

 only not fallen below that of the previous year, but has even slightly 

 exceeded it. When the time of the new crop was approaching, the stocks 

 of orange and bergamot oils were entirely exhausted, and only small 

 parcels of oil of lemon were still in existence, these being in the 

 hands of a few firm holders. The prospects of the new crop were, 

 generally speaking, very good, and low prices for all kinds of essences 

 were expected for the year 1909. The manufacture of the new 

 season's orange oil had commenced as usual, although with some 

 slight delay, at the beginning of October, and the oil content of the 

 fruit being satisfactory, it yielded a rich output. Consequently prices 

 fell to about 12 marks, a figure which no longer left any profit to the 

 manufacturers, and which caused a partial cessation of the oil production. 



This season the manufacture of oils of lemon and bergamot could 

 only be commenced with considerable delay, because the trees had 

 suffered greatly from the drought during the summer, and it was 

 necessary that the fruit should be left to attain a certain size and 

 degree of maturity. Just as the first small consignments of new fruit 

 had been brought to market, the earthquake came and destroyed, at 

 a single blow, all the existing conditions. 



As in all previous years, so in the course of the summer and 

 autumn of 1908, a lively business for future delivery in all varieties 

 of essential oils had been developed, and when the time for the pro- 

 duction of the new oil had arrived, consumers abroad were waiting 

 anxiously for the new supplies, as the stocks of old oil which remained 

 in their hands had been extremely reduced. 



The destruction of the two cities of Messina and Reggio; the 

 absence during many weeks of all detailed news with regard to the 

 fate of the commercial firms which had entered into contracts with 

 other countries; and finally the arrival of the news that most, of these 

 firms were no longer in existence and that their proprietors, with the 

 whole of their families, except a few survivors, had met with a violent 

 death, caused a panic in all the consuming countries of the world. 

 This panic was stimulated by the uncertainty as to the legal position 

 in which traders abroad were placed, most foreign firms having pur- 

 chased oil in Messina and Reggio for forward delivery, and by the 

 complete ignorance prevailing as to the conditions of production in 

 Sicily, as a result of which it was, for example, thought possible that 

 the lemon crop of the whole island might have been destroyed. 

 Consequently, the stocks of oil which still remained in existence 

 abroad were forced up to incredibly high prices, which partly reacted 

 upon our island. 



