Nov.  2,  1896. J 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
319 
THE  DECLINE  IN  QUININE. 
T’is  said  tliat  the  unexpected  often  occurs.  Tlie 
saying  proved  its  truthfullness  on  Monday  in  tJie 
decline  of  three  cents  per  ounce  in  the  price  of 
quinine,  wliich  was  published  exclusively  in  the 
Reporter  of  that  date.  The  announcement  was 
quite  unexpected,  and  took  the  trade  completely 
by  surprise.  All  of  the  local  conditions  governing 
the  market  had  pointed  to  a firm  price  and  ,an 
increased  demand  as  the  season  of  lai'ge  consum- 
ption advanced.  Already  signs  of  activity  had 
appeared,  and  the  trade  had  begun  to  feel  encour- 
aged .at  the  promising  outlook.  In  anticipation  of 
a steady  market,  purchases  were  made  in  London 
late  last  week,  so  it  is  reported,  at  a price  equal 
to  twenty-five  cents  laid  down  here.  During 
Monday  the  irrarket  was  demoralized,  but  the 
dealers  soon  became  reconciled  to  the  situation  and 
fixed  their  selling  price  at  twenty-four  to  twenty- 
four  .and  one-half  cents  per  ounce,  as  .against 
twenty-live  cents  per  ounce,  the  lowest  price  (proted 
for  bulk  by  the  manufacturers.  The  prices  of 
dealers  and  m.anuf.acturers  now  bear  the  same 
relation  to  e.ach  other  that  they  did  just  previous 
to  the  advance  of  Dec.  18,  189.5. 
The  trade  is  at  sea  as  to  the  reason  for  this 
r.ulici.al  move  of  the  manufacturers,  and  no  explana- 
tion h.as  been  forthcoming  from  the  latter.  All 
is  conjecture,  but  an  analysis  of  the  situation  ni.ay 
help  to  reach  a conclusion  which  time  may  prove 
to  h.ave  been  the  correct  one.  It  is  known 
th.at  the  order  to  reduce  the  price 
came  by  cable  from  Germany  on  Thursday  previous 
to  the  date  set  for  the  new  price  to  take  effect. 
One  theory  is  that  at  the  prices,  which  the 
makers  had  been  quoting  for  eieht  months,  there 
was  a temptation  for  others  to  start  new  works, 
as  it  is  well  known  that  quinine  ])ays  a sub- 
stantial profit  even  at  present  prices ; hence,  it 
is  argue'l,  it  was  determined  by  the  manufacturers 
to  auticip.ate  any  such  move,  should  one  be  in 
contemplation,  by  lowering  the  price  and  thus 
dissuading  any  possible  maker  from  entering  the 
lists.  It  is  barely  possible  that  the  much-talked- 
of  Java  factory  is  feared,  but  this  seems  hardly 
probable  as  it  will  require  a long  time  to  estab- 
lish a new  brand  of  quinine,  and  nobody  knows 
this  better  than  the  manufactui'ers. 
For  some  time  past  it  has  been  apparent  that  a 
feeling  of  mutual  distrust  has  existed  among  the 
makers.  Just  how  far  back  this  dates,  we  are  un- 
able to  state  with  any  degree  of  accuracy. 
Certain  indications,  however,  point  to  about  the 
time  of  the  advance  of  last  December.  At  that 
time  at  least  one  of  the  manufacturers  booked 
a large  number  of  unsolicited  contracts  at  twenty- 
live  cents,  which  were  accepted  by  the  consumers 
as  soon  as  they  learned  of  the  contemplated  ad- 
vance, a notice  of  which,  most  of  them  received 
in  the  m.ail  following  the  one  that  carried  the 
advice  of  the  booking  of  their  contr.act.  This 
was  looked  upon  at  the  time  as  rather  sharp 
practice.  All  of  the  manufacturers  m.ade  large 
sales  and  the  importations  to  cover  the  contracts 
entered  into  were  very  large.  During  the  first 
three  months  of  this  ye.ar  they  amounted  to 
1,335,328  ounces  at  New  York  alone,  as  against 
1,308,959  ounces  for  the  United  .States  during 
the  fiscal  year  ending  June  30,  1895.  The  impor- 
tations at  New  York  for  the  fiscal  year  ending 
June  30,  1896,  were  2,913,280 ounces,  by  quarters, 
as  follows : From  July  1 to  October  1,  1895, 
335,810  ounces;  October  1,  1895,  to  January  1, 
1896,  929,585  ounces  ; January  1 to  April 
1,  1896,  1,335,328  ounces;  April  1 to  July  1, 
313,357  ounces.  Into  the  LTiiited  States  for  the 
40 
fiscal  year  ending  June  30,  189G,  the  total  impor- 
tation of  quinine  and  other  salts  of  cinchona,  was 
3,359,818  ounces,  the  largest  importation  in  four 
years.  Then,  too,  the  imports  of  bark  show  a 
material  increase.  When  we  take  these  facts 
into  consideration,  in  connection  with  what  stock 
of  alkaloid  is  held  by  dealers,  not  large,  to  be 
.sure,  the  conclusion  is  forced  upon  us  that  the 
import.ations  were  considerably  in  excess  of  the 
demand.  Manufacturers  h.ave  been  large  buyers 
of  bark  .at  all  of  the  sales  in  Amsterdam  for 
several  months,  and  they  have  probably  over- 
stocked themselves,  and  they  have  ascert.ained 
that  there  was  too  ;;reat  ,a  dillercnce  between 
their  price  and  the  j)rice  quoted  by  dealers,  who 
possessed  just  enough,  both  here  and  in  London, 
to  control  the  market.  Mucli  of  the  stock 
in  outside  hands  is  high  priced,  even  that 
held  by  late  purchasers,  hence  this  latest 
move  of  the  manufacturers  m.ay  be  consi- 
dered a master  stroke  to  enable  them  to 
market  their  product  and  effectively  bottle  up 
the  dealers  or  force  them  to  sell  at  a loss.  At 
the  same  time  it  will  probably  have  the  result 
of  putting  a stop  to  the  leak  within  their  own 
ranks  abroad,  if  they  have  thoroughly  satisfied 
themselves  that  it  really  existeil,  and  it  may 
discourage  the  practice  of  filling  up  the  consuming 
tr.ade  beyond  their  requirements  by  persuading 
them  that  the  price  was  likely  to  ad\  ance.  An- 
other decline  is  not  improbable. 
We  append  tables  wliicli  picture  clearly  the 
situ.ation  from  a statistical  standpoint:  — 
AMSTERDAM  BARK  SALES. 
Ounces  in 
Ounces  in 
Price 
bark  offered 
bark  sold 
paid  per 
1895 
unit  Cent 
January  , 
1,143,222 
765,31  ! 
•98 
February  . 
1,360,688 
702,736 
.91 
April 
839,661 
263,578 
1-04 
May 
910,016 
612,169 
1-06 
June 
753,353 
576,541 
1-04 
July 
950,400 
601-885 
•99 
August  . . 
1,043,293 
774,400 
•95 
October  . . 
780,679 
665,913 
105 
November 
1,073,600 
774,400 
1-05 
December 
880,000 
827,200 
1-09 
1896. 
January. . 
1,143,126 
955,958 
110 
February 
1,286,877 
953,638 
1.00 
March  . . 
1,158,112 
912,374 
1-00 
April 
1,017,245 
937,904 
1-00 
June  ..  , 
. 901,718 
828,080 
1-00 
CINCHONA  BARK  IMPORT.S. 
Year. 
Pounds. 
1890-91 
♦ • • • 
2,672,361 
1891-92 
. . . • 
3,123,941 
1892-93 
• • • • 
2,374,041 
1893-94 
• • 
2,502,224 
1894-95 
. . 
1,911,489 
1895-96 
.. 
2,706,006 
QUININE  I.MPORTS. 
Year, 
Ounces. 
1890-91 
• • •• 
3,079,000 
1891-92 
• • • ♦ 
2,686,677 
1892-93 
• • • « 
3,027,819 
1893-94 
• • • • 
2,141.130 
1894-95 
• • • • 
1,308,959 
1895-93 
(and  salts) 
3,359,818 
In  the  last 
two  tables  the 
figures  are 
for  tlifi 
fiscal  ye.ars  from  June  .30  to  J une  30.— Oil,  Paint  and 
Drufj  Reporter 
