492 



[June, 1910, 



EDIBLE PRODUCTS. 



THE STATE OF THE NUTMEG 

 INDUSTRY. 



(From the Agricultural News, Vol. IX., 

 No, 206, Barbados, March 19, 1910.) 

 The Imperial Department of Agricul- 

 ture has recently received enquiries as 

 %o the prospects of disposing of the 

 essential and expressed oils of nutmeg 

 at remunerative rates. In response to 

 these, information has been obtained 

 which is of more general value, and the 

 bulk of it is therefore published here. 



Firstly, as regards the demand for 

 West Indian nutmegs in the United 

 States of America, the position is 

 summarized in the following article 

 which appeared in the Spice Mill for 

 November, 1908, p. 677 :— 



Although the ordinary consumer in 

 this country (U.S.A.) never heard of, or 

 purchased, British West Indies nutmegs 

 under their name, still those articles are 

 being sold to them, mixed up with 

 Singapore nutmegs. Owing to the small 

 demand in the United States for the 

 British West Indies nutmegs, because 

 of their inferior quality, the importa- 

 tions are exceedingly light, amounting 

 to about 2,000 barrels per annum. 

 The nutmegs are shipped principally 

 from Grenada (which islaud is the 

 heaviest producer of the entire group of 

 the British West Indie?) to London, 

 England. There they are graded as to 

 size, and mixed with Singapore nutmegs, 

 and then shipped to this market and 

 sold under the trade name of Singapore 

 nutmegs, according to size and quality. 



The total production of the nutmegs 

 in the British West Indies is so small 

 that it is not taken into consideration 

 in the preparation of statistics here or 

 abroad. Not until the quality of 

 British West Indies nutmegs is improved 

 by cultivation can they be sold under 

 their real name. 



Attention is also drawn to a transla- 

 tion of an article bearing on the subject 

 generally from De Indische Mercuur, 

 which appears in the next number of 

 the Spice Mill (December, 1908, pp. 749-50). 

 The chief conclusions, due to Dr Treub, 

 Director of the Botanic Gardens, Buiten- 

 zore, Java, reached in this, are : — 



(1.) That the price obtained for nut- 

 megs has been declining, with large fluc- 

 tuations, for many years. This is shown 

 in the following table, which gives the 

 prices, per h kilo, obtained in Amsterdam 

 for 110's tollS's in cents, for Banda nut- 

 megs, since 1898 :— 



Highest. Lowest. Average. 



1898 



95 



80 



86 



1899 



84 



78 



81 



1900 



80 



8^ 



80 



1901 



65 



57 . 



60 



1902 



78 



55 



. 64 



1903 



86 



76 



81 



1904 



63 



50 



55 



1905 



£0 



48 



46 



1906 



55 



43 



48 



1907 



43 



36 



39 



(2 ) It is difficult to trace the real 

 cause of the lower prices. It is not 

 entirely due to overproduction, as is 

 shown by the following table, giving the 

 total export (from official statistics) 

 during the same years, from the Dutch 

 East Indies, which are the principal pro- 

 ducers of the article :— 





Kilos. 



1898-9 



1,889,772 



1899-1900 



2,670.431 



1900-1 



2,861,518 



1901-2 



2,391,072 



1902-3 



2,840,304 



1903-4 



2,686,399 



1904-5 



3,389,804 



1905-6 



2,793,090 



(3.) It is suggested 



that the fall in 



value of the product is due to a smaller 

 demand, consequent on a decreased con- 



sumption per capita, 



(4.) In considering any possible effects 

 of increased production, the exports 

 from Java cannot have had much influ- 

 ence on the result. This is shown by 

 the table below, compiled from the 

 statistics of the Handelsvereeniging 

 (Commercial Society) of Batavia, Java, 

 which shows the share of that island in 

 the total export from the Dutch East 

 Indies. It should be compared with the 

 table that has just been given :— 



Kilos. 



1902 ... 99,000 



1903 ... 82,375 



1904 ... 199,200 



1905 ... 174,200 



1906 ... 182,200 



1907 ... 147,500 



(5.) As far as nutmeg tallow (or 

 nutmeg soap) is concerned, it appears 

 that this is only used in the drug trade 

 and, to a certain extent, in the manu- 

 facture of perfumery. It is net likely 

 that the fall in price of this, in harmony 

 with that of nutmegs, would lead to 

 such an increased demand as to react in 

 the direction of raising the market value 

 of the nutmegs. 



