394 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Dec. I, 
THE COCONUT INDUSTRY. 
In view of the references which have lately 
appeared, from time to time, in our columns on 
the disappointing prices which rule for coconuts, 
and in continuation of our article on i>age.S81, 
it iniyba of interest to note the cliange which 
has come over the oil industry on which the 
price of nuts most largely depends. Although 
the De.siccating Mills consume what a few years 
ago would be considered an immense number 
of nuts, yet, we saw in our review of last year’s 
exports tliat the Mills accounted for only about 
30.000. 000 nuts, while the Oil exports represented 
171.000. 000 nuts — a figure much below the re- 
quirements in previous years. The new 
Desiccating industry lias undoubtedly helped 
to keep up prices ; but it has chiefly bene- 
fited estates in the neighbourhood of the Mills, 
as these save the cost of transport wddle 
they realise the same price for their nuts as 
estates situated at a distance. Oil, therefore, 
has practically ruled the price of nuts ; and even 
proprietors who have found it advantageous to 
sell to neighbouring Desiccating Mills complain 
of tlie serious fall in price, Erom one of these 
we learn, that the difference between this 
year’s and last year’s prices averages between 
R4 to K7 per thousand for .separate crops ; 
while the difference is as much as R6 to KIO 
and even RT2, compared with the prices of 1895. 
Does the difference in the value of oil then and 
now explain this immense fall in the price of 
nuts ? Not wholly, we think ; because the gold 
price of oil has remained about the same, and 
the difference is mainly connected with the rise 
in exchange which cannot account entirely tor 
the lower prices wdiich rule for nuts. 
Let us look now at the Oil exports up to 
26th October, the latest figures available, we 
find that the quantity sent away from the island, 
(300,8.57 cwt.) is greatly in excess of the quan- 
tity exported during the corresponding period of 
last year, which was 262,818, and little less than 
in 1895 which showed 310, 168 cwt. The figures for 
the coriesponding period of 1894 are 385,616 cwt. ; 
but the shipments that year wereexceptionally large 
and were exceeded we believe only once, that is, 
in 1892. The present year has thus been one of high 
average exports for oil ; and there is nothing in 
the qu.antity exported to explain the price of 
nuts. The ruling prices for oil have, how’ever, 
evidently stimulated the demand ; and 
it is on this fact, perhaps, that the hopes of the 
Coconut Planter must primarily rest. When we 
turn to the table of distribution, ,we find that 
our oldest, and till recently largest customer, 
the United Kingdom, took from us only 58,770 
cwt. as against, 68,285 last year ; while America, 
our next best customer for many years took 
about the same quantity, 52,124 cwt. against 
51,570 ; but India has more than doubled her 
demand with 135,723 cwt. against 64,961 last 
year. Singapore too, has made a stride from 
32,921 cwt. to 37,566. These two neighbours of 
ours have thus absorbed more than one-half of 
our exports, evidently under the stimulus of low 
prices which are^Lraceable to cheap and abun- 
dant tallow in Europe and America. When 
once the substitutes for coconut oil in the 
European and American markets rise in price, 
the demand for our oil, we suppose, will im- 
prove ; and with that the competition between 
our new customers and old should lead to 
better prices. 
There are two hopeful circumstances connected 
with the trade with India and Singa- 
pore— that the oil is chiefly required for c?il- 
inary purposes, this fact pointing to a regular de- 
mand ; and, secondly that they have found our oil 
cheaper than Cochin oil ; while, for Calcutta 
and Singapore, it is somewhat nearer at liand. 
On this point, it may be well to quote from 
the communication of a Coconut proprietor who 
had, curiously enough, written what follows 
before he had seen our last article. He says : 
“ It li.as always been a puzzle to me why 
“ Cochin oil should be so much dearer than 
“ours. The explanation offered, that the Cochin 
“ Oil is richer in stearine, affords no information 
“as to why it should be .so; and whether, by 
“improved cultivation or improved manufacture 
“ Ceylon m.ay not secure for her oil, too, the pre- 
“ eminence she enjoys with almost all hef products. 
“ Oui oil might certainly be whiter; but the natives 
“ have an inveterate habit of resorting to methods 
“ which give them the least trouble; and, in the dry- 
“ ing of copra, the ea.siest method is to split the nuts 
“ and put them on alow platform with fire under! 
“ This blackens the copra, and the resulting oil 
“is of a darkish yellow colour. Careful drying, 
“ even over a fire, may yield clean white copra"”; 
“ but it is seldom the necessary care is observed' 
“ and some of the blackened stuff which is offered 
“ for sale, and readily purchased, is a disgrace to 
“ the producer. I do not say that all our copra 
“ can be sun-dried, because on a showery or cloudy 
“ day, the nuts in process of drying must be dried 
“on a platform or they would turn mouldy and 
“ be discoloured ; but what the mills mioht do is 
“ to offer higher prices for sun-dried copra, and to 
“ make oil separately, of the clean white copra 
“ and of the black. As it is, though higher prices 
“ are paid for clean copra, without reference to 
“ its being sun-dried, good and bad are mixed- 
“ and hence the oil is not white. May not a dif- 
“ ferent system, save our reputation, and place at 
“ least some of our oil on a par with Cochin ; for 
“ in the Northern ports, at least, of the Is’land| 
“sun-drying might be made the rule, if hi<dier 
“ prices are paid for sun-dried copra, and white oil 
“ is manufactured separately ? Then, can smoke 
“ drying have any eftect on the stearine ? Is it not 
“ the fact that Cochin oil prices are due partly to 
“ operations in the market, though it is decidedly 
“ superior to ours?” ^ 
These are interesting questions, and we are 
taking steps to get answers on several 
points involved -the first of which, indeed, 
we append. For the present, it is the 
shifting in the distribution of our Oil to 
which we wish to draw particular attention, 
both .as a curious fact, having regard to our 
proximity to India and intimate commercial 
lelations with hei, and also as one which gives 
promise of competition with our older and larger 
customers for oil. In Desiccated Coconuts our 
exports are steadily growing and so in Coir. 
We have no reason to complain of the quantb 
ties of Coconuts removed in the shell, which are 
almost, if not quite, the highest on record ; while 
in Copra we are far ahead of previous years. 
There is thus an abundant demand for the 
growing supplies, from the Island of the varied 
products of the Coconut palm; but what has 
to be done now is to introduce the Cochin 
mode of sundrying Ceylon Copra, wherever 
and whenever possible. 
