574 
THE TROPICAL 
AGPJCULTURIST. [Feb, 1, 18M. 
THE EXPORTS IN 1898 OF THE PRO- 
DUCE OF THE COCONUT PALM. 
Tim {^rowing importance of the Coconut Industry, 
and llio readiness wiili wliicli, in recent years, 
Eui opcans have invested tlieir capital, after a ino- 
loiigi'd withdrawal, in coconut plantations, and 
even in openint; uj) land for a product which is 
about the slowest to yield returns, render it 
desiriilile that we should ofi'er some remarks on 
the ii{.^ures for last year, hearing on coconut 
prod'.iets, which we published last week as a 
iSiippl.^Mient. Out of the 24 columns in which our 
exports are tabulated in the Ciiamberof Commerce 
returns, the products of the, to us at least, 
premier palm, (daim no less than oi;,'ht columns ; 
iiiul these supply an illustration of the diveisiiy of 
the uses to which the tree and its i)roduce are put, 
though they ]>y no means exhaust tliose uses. 
Tea which is our leading export — and long may it 
continue to be so ! — has not even the double column 
■which its gieat predecessor of the hill country 
claimed, under the divisions " Pliintalion " and 
" ]N alive"; and Cinnamon is the only other product 
which shares witli Coffee two columns. But, as 
we explained when discussing the statistics of 1897 
last year, it is the price of the Oil, which is the 
most ancient of our coconut products, which mainly 
regulates the market for nuts, tliough the figures 
in some of the other columns look more formid- 
able. The exports of oil are shewn in cwts ; 
and as each cwt. rejn-esents about 500 nuts, the 
435,9.'i3 cwt, exported in 1898 stand for 
217>9t)G,500 nuts, whereas the 13 million odd 
lb. of desiccated coconut mean only 39 million 
tilts, which again throw into the shade the 12 
million odd coconuts we sent away in the shell 
last year. The only product of the palm which 
can compare with oil in importance is Copra, or the 
dried kernel, of which we sent away Inst year no 
less than 506,277 cwt. which, at an average of 240 
nuts to the cwt., would mean 121,.j(JG,4'>0 nuts; 
bus hist year was an exceptional one for cojira 
exports, and the prices paid for the article for 
export were often quite independent of the price 
of oil. 
To go back, however, and begin with oil, 
though the quantity exported in 1898 was well 
ahead of that for the three previou.'? years, it 
was only a fair average quantity. It was ex- 
ceeded twice during the last decade — in 1894 
when 487,571 cwt. were taken away, and in 1891 
the year of our largest export) when the quantity 
reached 550,977 cwt. ; and it was approached in 
1891 and 1897, with close on 410,000 on each 
occasion. There has not thus been that steady 
advance in exports which we have learnt to 
as-oeiate with increased production in such 
arti(les as cofiee, tea, cinnamon, cocoa, and 
cardamoms, of which almost the whole crop is 
sent away. The manufacture of the oil is con- 
trolled, to a great extent, by the demand for it 
in the European and American markets, and 
more recently from India and the Straits Settle- 
ments as well; and we doubt whether the island has 
evtr yet been called upon to send awaj' its largest 
possible output. It may be chat we should have 
■ shipped considerably more oil last year than 
we did, but for the mishap which destroyed the 
Hiilftsdorp Mills, owned by one of the most res- 
p.ected and enterprising of our local P^oreign 
Firms, and which restricted the outturn for 
one-half of the year practically to one large mill. 
However that may be, the exports of oil were 
pnly average, and leave little roam for exulta- 
tion, though the prices were probably better 
during the latter part of the year than they were 
for a considerable time before. It ii» for activity 
in the trade in Copra that 1898 was most re- 
markable. It will be seen iL^t tlie quuntiiy 
sent away was almost fi\e times that ol 1897, 
when ihe exports were 1U6,C01 cwt., auil that 
was more than double the quaniity for 1896 
which stood at 50,049, and more than trelde thai 
for 1895. The demand was certainly phenmiie- 
nal, and led to tlie price per candy (of five cwt.) 
being maintained at cuns<ider.ibly over H40, 
while occasionally it ran up even l>eyond K50. 
It is a mistake, however, to suppose — as we con- 
fess we weie oursehes inclined to do, having re- 
gard to the figures for only tiie thiee ureviou» years 
which were published in the Clianiher of Com- 
merce circular weekly — that the expoit trade 
was practically a new one. Id looking up the 
figures for earlier y?ars, we lind tliat the ex|>ort» for 
1886 to 1888 were 129,794 cwt., I,'i7,8 3 cwt. and 
138,578 cwt., respectively. Since then the fluctua- 
tions were considerable— goingdow n as lowa»' 30,642 
cwt. in 1894, and rising to us niuch as 134,590 cwt. 
in 1892. The figures, however, never appioached 
to one-third of tliose for last year. How far (lie 
troubles in the Philippines, which grow coconuts 
largely, contributed to the unusual demand, and 
to what extent the demau<i may be considered cer- 
tain, only those in the secrets of tiie lra<le can 
tell. 1-ooking to the geographical diiitiibution of 
our Exports — and that is an interesting subject 
whicli we must leserve tor another article— we 
are hopeful that the demand for Copra will not 
altogether fall ofT with the settlement of J^hilip- 
pine affairs; but it would not be ?afe to calculate on 
the high prices for Copra of last j'ear, and of nuts of 
three or four years ago, with the immense extent of 
land placed under coconut cultivation — not merely 
here, which may be as a drop in the oce.in, but 
in the Southern hemisphere, in the Eastern 
Archipslago, in Africa, and in the Pacific Is- 
lands. As against the apiiieheiisions of over- 
production, may be placed the hope ot new uses 
for nuts and cojira, and the lesulting oil and 
poonac, for man and bea.st- 
In desiccated coconut, the upward tendency 
was maintained ; but looking to the very gra- 
dual growth of exports for the past four years, a« 
compared with the strides in previous yesvrs, and 
specially to the fact that the 13,040,534 lb. sent 
away represented an increase of only 986,082 lb. 
over 1897, we m.iy regard the limit of expansion 
as practically reached. Of coconut poonac, which 
is the refuse of the dried kernel after the ex- 
pression of oil, a Inrger quantity than ever was 
sent away; and the 216,62(J cwt. on the export 
table, being about one-half the weight of the 
oil exported, represent a curiously close approxi- 
mation to the full results of milling operations 
for export purposes. The oil weighs about 2-3rds 
of the copra operated on, and the poonac about 
one-third; so that, practically, we sent away all 
the poonac which was obtained after the oil we ex- 
ported was .secured, while retaining for local con- 
sumption, all the poonac which was left alter ex- 
tracting oil for local needs ! But, as we have 
often said, we would rather retain all the poonac 
the island produces tor feeding stock and for man- 
uring land ; but its u.ses are appreciated in Europe, 
and the prices offered are such as to ensure sales. 
The number of coconuts in the .shell exported in 
1898, fell short of that for each of the two pre- 
ceding years by between IJ and two millions, but 
it was in excess of the number of any prev^oiu 
