710 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Apeil 1, 1904. 
CINNAMON SALES IN LONDON. 
The telegraphic information we piibished 
a month ago, indicated a slackened demand 
for cinnamon a,t the first Quarterly Sales 
ot the year held in London. The informa- 
tion to hand by the mail last week, con- 
firms the contents of the brief wire, and to 
some extent explains it. We have for years 
past been directing attention to the steadily 
increasing output of the spice, and been 
warning growers that the inevitable result 
must be a fall in price. The day of a 
weakening market has come, but it has 
been long delayed — chipfly, we fancy, 
owing to the new uses to which cinnamon 
is being put in medical and surgical prac- 
tice, in combination with a growing ap- 
preciation of it for flavouring purposes and 
as a condiment in the preparation ot food 
for stock. These circumstances have helped 
bath to prevent a sudden fall, and to render 
the fall in price, comparatively light. We 
should have felt no surprise if the drop had 
been heavier, considering the uuprecedented 
quantities of cinnamon which had been ex- 
ported hence. As we saw, when reviewing, 
early in tlie year, the volume and destination 
of our principal products during 1903, the 
Continents of Europe and America had ab- 
sorbed an unusually large quantity of the 
spice ; and although the United Kingdom 
had by no measis kept pace with foreign 
competitors behind whom it had been 
lagging for several years past, its own 
moderate supplies from here could 
hardly be expected to help up prices. 
It is chiefly for export that the old London 
houses buy at the Quarterly Sales, and their 
orders are necessarily smaller, in corre- 
spondence with the larger direct trade 
which the Continental ports do with Col- 
ombo shippers. It thus came about that, 
in face of the unusually small supply of 499 
bales which were catalogued in Febiuary, 
the demand was slow, and nearly three- 
fourths of the quantity were withdrawn for 
lack of bidders. The principal dealers have 
we believe for the first time, given public 
expression to an explanation of the situation 
which had been matter of outside observa- 
tion for years, and notab'y in these columns. 
The Suez Canal has affected direct shipments 
to London enormously, and the growing 
quantities which find their way to the 
Continent necessarily reduce the orders from 
there. Of the 3 043,714 lb. exported from 
Ceylon in 1903 only 486,676 lb. found their 
way to the United Kingdom— Gernsany hav- 
ing taken 997,494 lb. quills, and among the 
countries which had more tlian Great 
Britain wag America with 685,621 lb., 
while Spain bad no less than 876,620. 
It will at once be seen how unimportant 
London must now he as a distributing 
dentre for Cinnamon. But it remains 
the destination for our best spice. 
The pre-eminent Kadirana marks of (Jolua 
i*Okuna, Wester*Seaton, Kimbulapitiya, &c. 
still find their way to London, and realise 
prices ranging from Is to Is 6d— whereas 
Jociil prices this year liave seldom exceeded 
60 cents a lb. Two-'Lhirds of the small 
quantity, ^hich theoe brands represented, 
found buyers at a decline of Id ; and that 
the decline was not heavier is due to the 
fact that their out-turn does not keep pace with 
the general out turn of the islnnd. Indeed, 
we believe that the quantities which go under 
the fine marks are steadily diminishing. 
The older estates naturally yield less, and 
their wealthy proprietors have no desire 
to extend their acreage. Coconuts yield 
better returns, and cinnamon-peelers — practi- 
cally restricted to a caste— .are a difficult race 
to manage ; while the difficulty is enhanced 
by the growth of the system of advances, 
which is not less troublesome than the 
upcountry system of advances for unskilled 
labour. The extension of cinnamon culti- 
vation has ceased for years in the Negombo 
district — the district par excellence for fine 
spice— but it is going on apace in the 
Southern Province, which produces coarse 
bark. The talling-off, in colour and quil- 
ling, of which our usual report below from 
Messrs. Forbes, Forbes & Co, Ltd., speaks, 
is probably explained by the abnormal 
weather of the last half of 1903, in which 
unusually heavy and persistent rains were 
followed by a few weeks of severe drought: — 
9, King William Street, 1st March, 1904. 
Cinnamon — The first quarterly auctions of the year 
were held yesterday, the unusually small supply of 
499 bales being presented ; but the sluggish demand 
was unprecedented, about 160 bales only passing the 
hammer and 340 bales being withdrawn for lack of 
competition. 
Leading dealers in this Spice complain that 
list year's purchases have not yet been disposed of while 
their distributing business is much interfered with by 
direct shipments from Ceylon to the consuming Ports. 
The Pine and Superior " worked " brands were 
represented by 95 bales, of which 61 bales were 
cleared at, and immediately after the sales at about 
Id per lb. decline. Some of these marks showed a 
considerable falling-off in colour and quilling on the 
usual grading of quality. Firsts, Is 2d and Is 6d ; 
Seconds, Is Id and Is 4d ; Thirds, Is Id to Is 3d ; 
Fourths, 5|d to 6d per lb. The bought-in lots were 
mostly passed without bids of any kind. 
Of ordinary to good " unworked " quill 404 bales 
offered and 104 bales sold irregularly at fully |d per 
lb. cheaper. Firsts, lOd ; S'iconda, 7id to {tid ; 
Thirds, 7d to 8|d ; Fourths, SJd to 6d per lb. 
Broken and clipping.-? brought 6d to 9d per lb. No 
chips offered; 
1903. 1902. 1901, 
Stocks of Oeylon 2,037 bales . .2,819 3,477 4,749 bales 
do Wild 942 do ..1,817 2 282 2,314 do 
do Chips 1,531 do ..1,601 2,193 4,435 do 
do Wild Bark 3,120 do .,5,542 7,640 7,371 do 
Next sales 30.h May. 
Up to date the quantity of quilled cinna- 
mon sent away is 388,483 lb,, which is 
considerably less than was exported durinR 
the corresponding period of 1901 and 1903, 
though much more than appears against 
1902. Of chips-564,722 lb. -a little less was 
sent away than last year, but the quantity 
is quite double tliat for 1902, and nearly 
as much as for 1901 and 1902 combined. 
What wonder then that prices have re- 
ceded ? But of these quantities, the mother* 
country has had less than one-siXth of 
quilled bark, and less than one-tenth of 
quills ! Whether the out-turn of cinnamon 
this year will come up to that of last 
year may be doubled— at any 'rate in quills 
which, for the first time— and may it be for 
tUe last I-excee4ed Uwee million lb, in 1903, ' 
