CHOCOLATE MORE POPULAR

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23335, 29 October 1937, Page 12

CHOCOLATE MORE POPULAR

1936 A RECORD FOR COCOA ECONOMIC COMMITTEE'S FIGURES (From Our Own Correspondent) (By Air Mail) LONDON, Oct. 8. The popularity of chocolate is growing rapidly, both in the United Kingdom and in the United States. This is one of the deductions which can be drawn from the facts summarised in the latest issue of the Imperial Economic Committee's review, Plantation Crops, just issued. Throughout the depression imports of cocoa in both countries continued on a high level, but, with its passing, jumped rapidly —in the United Kingdom from 76,000 tons in 1934 to 113,000 tons in 1936, in the United States from 197,000 tons to 282,000 tons. The year 1936 was a record one for cocoa. The Gold Coast, the chief exporting country, shipped .311,000 tons, over 40,000 more than in 1935. ■ , World exports of sugar and tobacco, after a marked decline during the depression, improved after 1934; but in 1936 were still substantially below the level of 1930. Exports of tea, coffee, and rubber have been subject, in varying degree, to regulation. This has tended to stabilise the total quantities shipped abroad by the producing countries. Thus, the world exports of all three commodities in 1936 showed little change as compared with the previous year. In both years, however, the total quantities of rubber and coffee exported were somewhat greater than in 1930. Tea exports, on the other hand, were less than in 1930.