and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society,— February, 1912. 



187 



THE COPRA INDUSTRY. 



DISPOSAL OF PRODUCTS AT HOME 

 AND ABROAD. 



Increasing Use for Oil. 



The manufacture of coconut oil and other 

 copra products in Great Britain is carried on 

 principally at Liiverpool and Hull. Copra, of 

 course, is imported from producing countries 

 and the oil expressed therefrom in mills in 

 England. Coconut (says a recent consular re- 

 poit) is imported largely in the unrefined state, 

 refined, and then re-exported to a considerable 

 extent, chiefly to the Netherlands. As an indi- 

 cation of the movements of trade in these pro- 

 ducts it may be stated that in one week in 

 September, 1911, there was imported into Lon- 

 don unrefined coconut oil to the amount of 400 

 barrels and 130 drums from Germany and 36 

 packages and 13 hogsheads from Ceylon. In the 

 same week only one shipment of copra (180 cwt, 

 was imported into London. The unrefined coco- 

 nut oil imported into the United Kiugdom in 

 1910totalled 539,686 cwt. valued at approximately 

 one million sterling, and of this quantity 308,086 

 cwt. were from Ceylon, 74,C65cwt. from France, 

 and 68,000 cwt. from Australia. The exports (of 

 British production) amounted to 73,173 cwt., of 

 which 64,211 went to the United States; of 

 foreign and colonial production 112,692 cwt. 

 were exported, the Netherlands receiving 

 46,172 cwt. On October 30 the price for 

 spot unrefined coconut oil (London) ranged 

 from £44 to £47 per ton. Of refined coco- 

 nut oil the total imports amounted in 

 1910 to 500,219 cwt, Fiance supplying 

 266,367 cwt. and Germany 130,060 cwt. 

 The exports (of British production) total- 

 led 228,109 cwt., no less than 164,847 

 cwt. thereof being sent to the Nether- 

 lands. The foreign and colonial refined co- 

 conut oil exported amounted to 9,364 cwt. 

 of which 3,958 cwt. were shipped to the 

 United States. There are no available stati- 

 stics relating to copra alone. 



Netherlands a Great Consumer. 



It will be noticed that more than two-thirds 

 of the Bntish-retined coconut oil exported went 

 to the Netherlands, the cause for this being the 

 fact that it is used largely in that country in the 

 manufacture of margarine. The use of animal 

 fats and oils in the production of that commod- 

 ity has given way largely to coconut oil, in 

 consequence of public taste favouring the latter. 

 From the country named, Great Britain impor- 

 ted 818,901 cwt. of margarine in 1909 and 



I, 069,558 cwt. in 1910, valued at more 

 than two millions sterling and £2,600,000, 

 respectively ; from the United States, 18,263 

 cwt. of margarine were imported in 1909 and 



II, 209 cwt. in 1910 ; while France supplied 23,369 

 cwt. and 32,288 cwt. in the respective years. It 

 is stated that from 500 pounds of copra 25 

 gallons of coconut oil should be obtained. 



In addition to margarine, the oil is now being 

 increasingly used in the manufacture of soap. 

 A large and well-known firm near Liverpool is 

 spending, it is reported, one million sterling in 



acquiring plantations in West Africa in anticipa- 

 tion of rising prices of copra. The November 

 quotations ranged from £25 to £29 per ton at 

 London, Antwerp, and Hamburg, though they 

 were a little lower at Marseilles. The oil is parti- 

 cularly suitable for making marine soap which 

 will lather in salt water. Coconut oil is saponi- 

 fied in heat with strong lye, but there is no 

 ' salting out '; a hard soap is formed, although 

 the percentage of water is high. There are two 

 methods of drying the broken coconut kernel to 

 form the copra ; one by sun drying, the other 

 artificial. It is stated that the former is less 

 effective than the latter, as the drying is often 

 not sufficiently thorough, rot setting in during 

 transportation from the producing centre to the 

 country of destination. 



Artificial Drying in F. M. 8. 

 Another report from Singapore says that 

 the only artificial drying apparatus used in 

 the manufacture of copra in the Federated 

 Malay States is a shtd with a grating (on 

 which the copr* is placed) about 6 feet from 

 the floor a fire being lighted underneath. 

 There seems to be no reason why a hot-air fan 

 apparatus should not be used — something 

 after the etyle of the " Sirocco " dryers used in 

 the manufacture of tea in Ceylon. Sundried 

 and artificially dried copra are sold together and 

 not separated, though if a sufficiently large 

 quantity of the former were put on the market 

 it would certainly command a higher price, as 

 it is superior to that prepared by the latter 

 method, the only disadvantages being the time 

 it takes to dry thoroughly and the likelihood of 

 the copra being covered with dust and other 

 impurities. The most common pests of the co- 

 conut palm are the black and red beetle. These, 

 however, are easily controlled, llats cause very 

 little damage, and the trees of the Federated 

 Malay States appear to be singularly free from 

 fungal disease. 



CEYLON FIBRE INDUSTRY. 



The following interesting report on the market 

 in fibres has been specially compiled for us by 

 Messrs. Bastoue and Firminger : — 



Palmyra Fibre.— Fluctuations were within 

 narrow limits, and while common, middling and 

 fair qualities scarcely maintained their price 

 position, prime dark stiff was realizing full prices 

 in some improvement. Stock in London public 

 warehouses shows 393 tons, being about the 

 same as a year ago. 



Kitool Fibre.— Consumption throughout the 

 year was on a diminished scale, and ttie article 

 closed dull and quiet at prices which were 

 barely maintained. 



Cochin, Coir Yarn, Weaving. — As antici- 

 pated, there was a moderate increase in pro- 

 duction for the year, but the anticipated de- 

 cline iu prices was not roalized, in fact, the 

 reverse took place in consequence of consump- 

 tion having considerably incieased. The closing 

 prices of 1910 were fully maintained in the early 

 part of the year (1911), when a decided advance 

 took place on new season's yarn crop being re- 

 ported small. Fine and medium weaving de- 

 scriptions advanced £1 to £3 per ton, whilst 



