Feb, 1, 1900.1 THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
531 
THE DISTRIBUTION OF COCONUT 
PRODUCTS IN 1899. 
RAPID RISE IN THE " DESICCATED ' 
TRADE. 
A careful study of the Chamber of Com- 
merce Export Table which we issue as 
a supplement, discloses many items of 
great intei'est ; and nob the least inter- 
esting particulars relate to the distribution 
of the products of the Coconut Pahn. With- 
out any special organisation to push them 
into foreign markets, such as the enter- 
prise and pluck of the Tea Planter have 
devised for his great staple, the range of 
their distribution is steadily extending, 
partly through their inherent excellence, and 
partly through the continuance of old- 
fashioned mercantile metliods which are by no 
means inelSective. Other nations have un- 
doubtedly been taking great commercial 
strides— it would be strange if they did not 
benefit by the example of British enter- 
prise wherever they turned ; and in some 
respects they have, perhaps, outstripped us 
by their greater pliancy and readiness to 
adapt themselves to circumstances ; but that 
there is any falling-ofi in the commercial 
interests and alertness of the British race, 
is only what the tendency of the race to 
be their own severest critics suggest. When 
we look at the Chamber of Commerce 
Tables we find that our palm products find 
their way into almost every land on the 
face of the earth, and into not a few which are 
themselves producers. Just as our Teas have 
been shipped to our two great rivals, China 
and India, so Coconut Oil, Copra, Coconuts 
in the shell, find a place among the im- 
ports of the Straits, India and Africa, which 
grow their own palms ! The process of 
development and expansion is particularly 
noticeable with regard to the Desiccated 
Coconut which, finding a place in our tables 
for the first time in 1891 with less than li 
million lb., has mounted up in eight years 
to more than l3i million lb. ; while the 
taste for it has spread from the United 
Kingdom until, already, 12 out of 19 countries 
named in our commercial table are reckoned 
among the consumers. Though it would be 
' too nuich to expect the demand for it to 
1 continue at the rate indicated by the growth 
of export during the past nine years— in- 
deed the proportional advance during the 
second four years is far short of that shown 
in the first five years— there is no reason 
to fear that there will not be a steady, if 
slow, growth, as the new markets enlarge 
their orders; and thus one element in the 
maintenance of fair prices for nuts will con- 
;tinue to be present. 
But after all, it is the price of Oil, and 
the demand for it, which is the chief control- 
ling influence in the price of coconuts; and 
for the simple reason that Oil manufacture 
takes up as many nvits, as all other pro- 
cesses combined. In our recent review, we 
showed that in 1898 Oil represented 217 
million nuts out of a total export of 390 
million; and last year the figures were 200 
million out of 331. The destination of the 
Oir and the demand for it is therefore of 
peculiar interest. In 1897 there was a sudden 
laud serious falling-off in the demand from 
the United Kingdom, VN'hich ran down from 
91,710 cwt. to 72,0[)4r cwt., and which caused 
some anxiety whicli was, however, allayed 
by the good offices of a customer nearer 
home. India nearly doubled her orders from 
86,796 cwt. in 1896 to 166,238 cwt. in 1897, and 
placed herself at once facile princeps among 
our customers, America coming second with 
88,080 cwt., and Singapore a good fourth 
with 61,058 cwt. The revolution that was 
expected in the trade from these figures 
dicl not come off; for in 1898, the United 
Kingdom advanced her demand to 123,316 
cwt., though still leaving India with its 
125,687 cwt. at the top of the list ; while 
Singapore put in a claim for 91,893 cwt. and 
America contented herself with 65,800 cwt. 
These were the principal figures which went 
to make up the total of 135,933 cwt. in 1898, 
which, though higher than the figures for 
the three previous years, were exceeded in 
1891 by over 50,000 cwt., and in 1892 by 
115,000' cwt. The exports of Oil last year 
have upset all the calculations based on 
those of the previous two years ; for Singa- 
pore's demands dwindled off 'to 23,336 cwt. 
or about one-fourth what it took ofl: in 
1898, and India was content with 66,728 cwt. 
or less than half the previous year's con- 
sumption. On the other hand, the United 
Kingdom took a mighty stride to 185,205 
cwt. or not much less than half the total ex- 
ports ; while America took total second plaee 
with 102,767 cwt. Whut is the explanation 
of these violent fluctuations? The demand 
for Euro])e and America, we know, is greatly 
controlled by the abundance or scarcity of 
animal tallow ; but we should be glad of 
information bearing on the immense varia- 
tions in the figures for India and the Straits. 
In Copra, there was a falling-off as 
compared with 1898 during whicli an un- 
prcedented demand sprang up— 506,277 cwt. 
laaving been sent off, " or about four times 
the jn-evious highest record. As we noted 
last year, the principal customer was Russia 
which had to be credited with 113,688 cwt., 
or considerably more than the total that 
had been sent away in any previous year. 
In 1899, too, she heads the list, but with 
only 104,968 cwt., little Belgium coming next, 
as in the previous year with 76,634, and 
France next with 44,232 ; while Germany 
was content Avith 26,454. The demand of 
each of these countries were much heavier 
in 1898, and more than double in two instances 
while the Mother Country, so far from com- 
ing to our rescue was content with 37,106 
cwt., or about 15,000 cwt. less than in 1898. 
To what is this falling-off all along the line 
due ? Was it scarcity of freight ? or were 
the previous year's purchases pushed on 
through competition beyond all reasonable 
requirements ? That is not improbable, hav- 
ing I'egard to the enormous quantities that 
were sent away. The fact that the quantity 
exported last year, though only two-thirds of 
that claimed for 1898, is yet far ahead of 
any previous year, and more than double, if 
not quite treble, of the best, gives hopes 
that the demand will continue, and that 
Russia will prove our best customer in the 
future as in the immediate past. 
In the demand for Desiccated Coconut, the 
Mother Country takesthelead, having absorbed 
nearly 9-^- out of the V6\ million lb. we es' 
