42 REPORT OF SCHIMMEL & Co. APRIL 1914. 
Cardamom Oil. The conditions of prices in the cardamom market have not yet 
improved, and so far as our information goes, no improvement is to be expected 
within a foreseeable time. We have therefore been obliged to maintain our present 
quotations for cardamom oil. A parcel of so-called wild cardamoms has recently 
been offered from London and, we hear, has been purchased by a firm in our branch 
of industry. To our certain knowledge, oil prepared from such cardamoms, although 
cheap, is in other respects wholly worthless, and its employment in the manufacture 
of comestibles may cost the users dear. 
Cascarilla Oil. Our stocks are again contracting alarmingly, and in view of the 
scarcity of raw material for distilling it may be extremely difficult to replenish them in 
good time. There is no doubt that the price will continue to be as high as it is now. 
Cassia Oil. The pronounced flatness of the market to which we referred in our 
last Report has continued during the winter, and prices have fallen to a level such 
as has not been known for many years. It cannot even approximately be stated 
wherein lies the cause of this fact. All Chinese cassia-products, however, have 
depreciated to such an extent that they bring losses to all concerned in the trade, 
and the only feasible assumption is that the conditions of insecurity prevailing in the 
country have induced the Chinese to turn their products into cash as soon as possible, 
and that the slump has been caused by the want of proportion between supply and 
demand. The present prices should be a stimulant to the laying-in of plentiful supplies, 
for the probability of a further decline in the market is slight, seeing how low is the 
present value. 
It is scarcely necessary for us to point out specially that we are continuing our 
efforts to discover cassia oils free from colophony, but we have to report to our 
regret that in this endeavour we continue to meet with great difficulties’). The 
suppliers are only willing to guarantee a definite aldehyde-content; they still remain 
unwilling to guarantee that the oil will stand the lead-acetate test, as it is said to be 
impossible to induce the distillers always to supply an oil which is free from colophony. 
We are not abandoning the hope of ultimately achieving a measure of success in 
this matter. If the exporters will make up their minds to present asolid front to 
the producers, and the latter find that they can only sell pure oil, it should be 
possible to bring about a better state of things. 
According to a report by the Consul General of the United States in Hong Kong’) 
the prices of cassia oil have fluctuated greatly owing to speculative enterprises. The 
quotation for the best grade of cassia oil per Picul of 1331/; Ibs. ranged from ,f 200.— 
local currency (= § 101.— gold) in January to ,f 205.— local currency (= f' 104.— gold) 
in April and then slowly fell to § 176.— in November, while at the close of the year it 
reached § 178.— (= § 86.25 gold). The value of the cassia oil exports to the United 
States in the year 1912 reached ,§ 760682, as compared with §' 67696 in the year 1913. 
The shipments to Europe exceeded those of the previous year by 50 p.c. 
Cedar Wood Oil. We are so favourably placed with regard to this article (which 
is of very great importance in soap-making), that we are able to offer specially 
favourable terms for large contracts. In comparing prices, however, the fact should 
1) Report April 1918, 40; October 1918, 38. — 7”) Daily Cons. and Trade Rep., Washington 17 (1914), 
No. 56, p. 906. 
