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Zealand through the export of fresh bananas, rubber, and, more recently, desiccated coconut and dried bananas, as well as the import of various foodstuffs. As of 1946, the trading relations of the Territory were as follows

11. Copra has long been the standard export, and was until recently almost the " money crop " of the Samoans. Official estimates made in 1928 placed the total Samoan coconut plantings at 40,914 acres, and European holdings at 12,035 acres. No systematic replanting of any importance has been done since 1938, and most of the crop comes from trees which are estimated to be from forty-five to seventy-five years old, and so are appproaching the limit of their bearing period. The Samoan output of copra comprises approximately 85 per cent, of the total exports. Almost the whole of the European copra output conies from the large plantations which were formerly German-owned and now are worked by the New Zealand Reparation Estates. It is mechanically dried, and therefore of better quality than the Samoan copra, which is sun-dried. Total copra production has failed to rise significantly during the last twenty years. 12. Since 1942 all copra has been sold under contract to the British Ministry of Food. The current price is £46 15s. lid. a ton, f.0.b., which is several times greater than the normal pre-war price. Of this amount, growers get £2B 16s. lid. to £2B ss. 7d., according to their distance from the port, the merchants get a profit of £2 2s. 7d., the export duty of 10 per cent, is £4 13s. 7d., and the rest covers handling charges, insurance, &c. At the low point of the depression copra fell in value below £1 a ton f.o.b. 13. The cocoa industry is based on the fortunate fact that a hydrid (Criollo forastero) type which developed in Samoa is among the world's finest quality cocoas, and is in special demand for blending purposes. At first it was wholly an enterprise of the European planters and of the Reparation Estates. But Samoan growers have gradually taken to the crop, and recently their share in the export total has risen sharply. As of 1945, 41 per cent, of the cocoa-beans were from Samoan holdings. No official estimate is available on the extent of Samoan cocoa plantings, but about 2,500 acres of cocoa are worked by private European planters and by mission bodies, and about 2,000 acres by the Reparation Estates. Samoan growers have learned to ferment and clean the cocoa-beans, but then they dry them in the sun instead of kiln-drying them as on the European plantations. The Government supervises the grading and local price system, but the cocoa is sold on general world markets in accordance with allocations agreed to by the International Emergency

Country. Exports (in Percentages). Imports (in Percentages). New Zealand 37 36 United Kingdom 30 22 . United States of America 20 14 Australia 7 15 Other .. .. 6 13