PEPPER SUPPLIES

Evening Star, Issue 19772, 24 January 1928, Page 9

PEPPER SUPPLIES

* NEGLECT OF CULTIVATION CROPS BELOW NORMAL. For some time past pepper has been the centre of interest in the spice market, so much so that smne oversea trade journals have _ reviewed the changes in the preparation of pepper for the table during the past halfcentury. These, though very important, have been so gradual as to be unobtrusive. Fifty years ago little care was used. The pepper as it arrived frequently more or less dirty was fed into a stone mill and ground entire, no trouble being taken to eliminate extraneous o matter. Inspection < and prosecution have gradually extinguished the most fragrant forms of nduleration, and to-day prosecutions on this account are almost unknown. The grinding process is also on a very different system than formerly, steel rollers being" found cleaner and more effective in preparing an article in which a white color is a desideratum. Much skill and expense have been involved in obtaining the best results. Unfortunately , # it is said, the craze for color is carried to excess, and as the finer pepper is ground the whiter it becomes, the tendency at present being to reduce it to a flour-like substance. In this condition the volatile oil escapes too readily, and deterioration sets in very quickly. The present high range of values has accentuated this tendency, as efforts are made to improve color without increasing price. A more important matter in connection with pepper, however, is occupying the attention of those most intimately associated with the trade—namely, whether the world’s supplies will be sufficient to last for the next eight months, until tho new crops in the autumn of 1928 are ready. It is said that since rubber has been receiving so much attention pepper cultivation has been neglected, and as the vines only remain in bearing about twenty to twenty-five years, and the new plants do not produce for four or five years, it has been feared for some years past that the time might arrive, when supplies would not be sufficient for the demand. Pepper conies almost entirely from India, and Java, and it is not known definitely as to whether more attention is being given _ to its cultivation, but reports that little is being done are confirmed by the fact that certain growths, such as Trang and heavy Penang, are now practically unobtainable. This year’s crops, both in Java and India, are reported as much below normal, the result it is thought of either a bad season, or possibly the gradual deterioration of the plants, and according to some experts the position feared for so long has been reached. It is possible that an advance in values may have an effect on consumption, but it does not appear to have done so up to the present, although values have increased almost threefold in tho past three or four years.