July, 1911,] 



7 



Oili and Fats. 



diplomatic representations. Similar com- 

 plaints are said to have been made of 

 the firm in question some years ago. 

 An American trade-paper t devote? a 

 lengthy report to the subject, from 

 which we gather that the firm concerned 

 (which is here also mentioned by name) 

 has been preferred by the Government 

 for supplies of crude camphor at the 

 expense of other Japanese refiners and 

 that the firm is said to contemplate 

 monopolising the trade is refined cam- 

 phor for itself, or at any rate for 

 Japanese houses. It would be impossible 



Total ... 53,224 7,646,001 



Two points at once strike us in con- 

 sidering these figures. 



1. The great difference between the 

 export values of the years 1907 and 

 1909 in proportion to the quantity 

 exported, indicating a serious de- 

 preciation of the product. 



2. The considerable increase, amount- 

 ing to over 100 per cent, of the 

 exports during the year under re- 

 view as compared with the pre- 

 ceding year. 



The following explanation of these 

 two factors may be given : — 



For many years the Japanese Mono- 

 poly Bureau believed that it was possible 

 to control the world's market in camphor 

 and to dictate prices according to its 

 pleasure. The Bureau therefore advanced 

 its average sale price from 120 yen per 

 picul in the year 1903, to an average of 

 from 150 to 160 yen (the highest limit) in 

 the years 1906 and 1907, while at the same 

 time it promoted most assiduously the 

 collection of camphor, partly by increa- 

 sing the purchase prices paid to the 

 producers, partly by the laying down of 

 new plantations of camphor trees. After 

 the revival of the Chinese production 

 and the appearance of artificial camphor, 

 however, the demand for Japanese cam- 

 phor underwent a considerable decline, 

 and the Japanese Government, after 

 suspending its sales for a long time, was 

 finally brought to the conviction that 

 the measures it had so far taken were a 

 failure. It therefore decided upon repea- 



for the American refiners to take 

 any effective measures against such a 

 proceeding, either by fiscal or by 

 diplomatic means, 



A report by Dr. Miiller, interpreter at 

 the Imperial German Consulate-General 

 at Yokohama %, contains detailed in- 

 formation on Japanese camphor, dealing 

 with the production, export and other 

 commercial matters relating to the drug. 

 These particulars amplify in many 

 respe3ts the information already given 

 in our Reports, for which reason we re- 

 produce them textually below : 



Value 

 Yen. 



3,469,398 

 4,377,816 



34,785 3,773,903 90,537 7,847,214 



ted reductions in price, the last of which 

 was made in September, 1908, with the 

 object of thereby getting rid of its 

 steadily accummulating stocks. Since 

 that time the prices have been as 

 follows :— 



a) In Japan. 80 yen per picul for im- 

 proved B camphor, and 78 yen per 

 picul for B. camphor. 



b) Abroad. 140/- per cwt. for improved 

 B. camphor, and 135/- per cwt. for 

 B. camphor. Taken in London or 

 Hamburg. 



For the above reasons the high figures 

 relating to the year under review do not 

 warrant the conclusion that there has 

 been an increase in production, in fact 

 they are in the main only the consequen- 

 ces of the severe reductions in price and 

 of the sale of the accumulated stocks 

 which has been made possible by these 

 reductions. In Old Japan the produc- 

 tion has even declined in consequence of 

 the lowering, in the year 1909, of the 

 prices paid to the producers. 



With regard to the camphor exported 

 from Old Japan (Kobe), it should be 

 noted that this is not all of Japanese 

 origin, but that it includes, in addition 

 to camphor produced in Japan, consider- 

 able quantities of camphor which has 

 been separated out from oil produced in 

 Formosa. The exports of camphor 

 oil from Formosa to Japan in the year 

 under review amounted to 36,394 piculs, 

 from which about 18,000 piculs of cam- 

 phor were prepared. 



The Expobts of the Past 3 Years have been as Follows :— 



1907. 1908. 1909. 



Quantity Value Quantity Value Quantity 

 Piculs. Yen. Piculs. Yen. Piculs. 



Old Japan ... 30,576 5,026,858 18,075 2,063,410 40,507 

 Formosa ... 22,648 2,619,143 16,710 1,710,493 50,030 



f Oil, Paint and Drug Reporter 78 (1910), Vo. t Deutschea Hand, Arach. 1911, Februory 

 10, p. 7. Number, p. 137. 



