Word: cocoa
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...spot the scrubby balsam firs had been cleared and a power shovel scooped deep into the earth. At week's end, under a crisp, blue sky, a couple of dozen Madelinot workmen stood around with mining engineers and newsmen to watch a diamond drill bite into the cocoa-colored rock. At a depth of 49 ft. the drill hit high-grade ore containing about 53% metallic manganese. With 40,000 tons proven reserves, and 140,000 more probable, it looked like a good thing for the island, and Quebec Manganese Mines, Ltd. Every ton of hardened steel requires...
Sweet Tooth. The villain seemed indeed to be the British Government, which through its British Cocoa Control Board last year sold some 300,000 tons, about half the world output. It sets the pace for similar Government agencies in Brazil and the Dominican Republic. All three, by dint of shrewd timing in deliveries, have made fat profits in the U.S. market. But the British were not wholly responsible for the price rise...
...Cocoa is parceled out in the world markets by the International Emergency Food Council. Although the U.S. got its full allocation of 258,000 tons, plus a "dividend" of about 10,000 tons, the quota was still far short of the 350,000 tons that U.S. chocolate manufacturers would like to buy. Contributing to the high price of cocoa were three other factors: competitive bidding for a scarce commodity, hoarding by large manufacturers, and a grave miscalculation by speculators...
Bitter End. The speculators had counted on an easing of the shortage Oct. 1, the beginning of the cocoa crop year. Looking for a price drop, they had sold cocoa short. But when no British and Brazilian cocoa was forthcoming, the speculators had to buy cocoa already in the U.S. This, some traders estimated, accounted for at least 10? in the price rise and it played straight into the hands of the British. They are expected to put the new crop on sale within the next two weeks and will probably get peak prices...
...victims of these shenanigans were some 4,000 small U.S. candy manufacturers, many of whom have already cut the size of their chocolate bars, or upped the sales price from 5? to 6?. (The standard price for the "dollar" box of chocolates is now $1.25.) Unless the price of cocoa dropped, many would be forced to go out of business...