33
8
The amounts of cattle cake obtainable from the above imports of seeds would be :-
Coconut cake
Palm-kernel cake
Cotton-seed cake
Ground-nut cake
Linseed cake
Rape-seed cake
Sesame cake
Soya cake
47,000 tons 140,000 492,000 119,000 210,000 24,000 6,000 80,000
**
$1
19
19
"3
9
Before the War, about 25,000 tons a year of coconut oil were imported into the United Kingdom from Germany, from 10,000 to 15,000 tons from France, and from 1,000 to 4,000 tons from Australia. These were, of course, wholly in the case of imports from Germany and France, and mainly in the case of imports from Australia, made from imported copra.
23. As regards exports of copra, the following are the chief exporting countries and normal exports therefrom :-
Dutch East Indies
Total
1,118,000
which, with such imported cake as can be brought to this country, will probably meet our necessary requirements. On this question, however, reference is invited to the extract from a letter dated 6th September, 1918, from the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, which forms Appendix I.
18. Supplies after the War.--Castor-seed.-India usually has about 100,000 tons of seed a year available for export. In 1913-14, 135,000 tons were exported, which was considerably above the normal. It is not, however, improbable that recent developments may lead to an increase in the exportable surplus. Germany was only a comparatively small consumer (6,000-10,000 tons), the chief Continental users before the war being Italy, France, and Belgium, which took together about 45,000-48,000 tons a year. The Indian supply should apparently be sufficient for peace requirements unless the United States of America takes to using it on a large scale-in 1913-14 they took about 20,000 tons from India.
19. Coconut Oil.The amount of Copra which is made from year to year seems to depend a good deal on the effective demand for it for export. A large amount is used to make oil in rough and wasteful native fashion and most of the oil so made is consumed by the natives and not exported. This is especially the case in India, where, though the crop is a very large one, exports have hitherto been comparatively small-from 30,000 to 38,000 tons a year of copra (the average for three years ended 1913-14 was 35,000 tons) and before the war about 6,000 tons a year of coconut oil. In 1917 over 10,000 tons of coconut oil were exported, and, in the first six months of 1918, 13,000 tons. Probably, therefore, a considerably larger quantity of oil than was exported before the War could be obtained from India without any great difficulty; and if necessary much larger quantities of copra. Given a steady demand for the oil for export at a remunerative price, the copra- crushing industry in India would probably in a few years be able to supply still larger quantities of oil.
20. Ceylon normally exports about 20,000 to 25,000 tons of coconut oil; and the Governor stated this year that if the mills were worked to their full capacity the Colony could expert 30,000 tons, Of this, 20 per cent., or 10,000 tona, would be native-made oil. It might thus be possible to arrange for Ceylon to supply 40,000 tons of machine- made coconut oil, if steps were taken to encourage its manufacture by paying a remunera- tive price and by providing regular freight to the United Kingdom and the necessary packages for all that the mills can produce. In addition, some of the native-made oil might be used for technical purposes. Ditficulties with regard to freight and packages have, however, greatly hampered production and export, even since the Ministry of Food started buying coconut oil in Ceylon through the agency of the Ceylon Government.
21. The Straits Settlements can normally export about 10,000 tons a year of coconut oil; but, as the Straits Settlements do not produce any considerable quantity of copra and the copra crushed in the Colony or exported from it comes largely from the Dutch East Indies whence about 65,000 tons of copra a year were imported into the Straits Settlements before the War out of a total import of about 100,000 tons, any prohibition of the export of coconut oil from the Straits Settlements which reduced the price which the Straits mills could give for Dutch copra below that obtainable in the country of origin, would merely damage Straits trade and lessen the amount of coconut oil which the mills in the Colóny could produce, while any prohibition of the export of copra which reduced the price in the Straits Settlements would still further damage the Colony's entrepôt trade, which has already suffered through war restrictions.
Io
22. The copra-crushing industry has been extended considerably in the Philippines during the War and the exports of coconut oil in 1916 were over 15,000 tons in addition to 137,000 tons of copra. The oil has gone largely to the United States of America. the Dutch East Indies, crushing on a large scale has increased during the War, but up to the present the oil is mainly consumed locally.
* See Appendix II.
Philippines
Malay Peninsula
Ceylon..
India
Zanzibar
British Pacific Islands-Fiji, Solomon Islands, Gilbert
and Ellice Islands and Tonga
To which may perhaps be added from all other
countries (say)
Total
120-160,000 tons
80-140,000 32,000
31
"
*50-70,000
"1
35,000 "1 10,000
34,000"
11
40,000
*
401-521,000 tons
The average imports of copra and coconut oil by Holland and Denmark before the War were about:--
Holland Denmark
Total in
Copra in Tons.
Oil in Tons.
Oil Value (tons).
77,000 23,000
95,000 28,000
16,000 5,000
The ration for Holland for 1916 was 100,000 tons of copra. Before the War Gerinany imported about 190,001) tons of copra a year, as well as about 250,000 tons of palm kernels. If she is unable to obtain British West African palm kernels, she will be driven to rely more on copra. The same applies to some extent to Holland. In 1915, France imported 146,000 tons of copra.
Japan has been taking considerable quantities of copra recently and re-exporting.the copra-or making and exporting the oil-to the United States of America.
oil
24. The world's supply and demand for imported copra and coconut oil in terms of may therefore be put very roughly-at :—
India
Supplies likely to be available.
Probable Demand.
Copra. (Tons.)
Coconut
Oil.
Coconut Oil and Oil value
Oil value in Tons.
(Tons.)
of Copra.
(Tons).
Ceylon
50-70,000
35,000
45,000 177,000-90,000
6,000
Malay Peninsula
32,000
28,000 20,000
United Kingdom 144,000
Zanzibar
10,000
6,000
Holland (say)...
80,000
British
Pacific Islands. (Fiji, Bolomon Islands, Gilbert and
France (Яy)
90,000
Denmark (say)...
23,000
United States of
Ellice Islanda, and Tonga)
34,000
22,000
70,000
Total British Bupplies
161-181,000 51,000
80-140,000
15,000
Dutch East Indies
120-160,000
40,000
153-166,000
66-105,000 77-102,000 26,000
Other Countries
(Bay)...
Total British and Foreign 401-521,000
66,000
322-399,000
Total (say)... 587,000
Philippines
Other countries (say)
America (say)
Germany (say)... 150,000
30,000
Some reduction may have to be made in this figure if an additional 15,000 tons or more of oil ure made in Ceylon, but on the other hand it is possible that the production of copra may keep pace with the increased demand.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference:-
TILLC 885/26
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO
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