20) 
in accordance with the bill of lading, the buyer claims for a 
shortage upon the shipping company. 
A merchant will sometimes speculate by making a c.if. sale 
without having the goods. This is done when forward prices 
are high and when, in his view, falling prices may be anticipated. 
In order to fulfil his contract, he will buy goods later on of the 
specification required; if he cannot do so, he is, of course, liable 
50 damages for breach of contract to the extent of the loss of 
profit incurred by the buyer. 
Goods sold c.i.f. are usually sold on bill of lading weights. 
These are taken at the freezing works, the carcases being weighed 
after dressing and a percentage deducted for the loss of weight 
which always occurs on cooling and freezing. Upon these 
weights, the freezing company pays the freight, and they are 
stated on the bill of lading. If the buyer intends to send the 
goods direct from the ship to country depots, he usually arranges 
bo have them weighed at the ship’s side; if they go into cold 
store, they are automatically weighed as they leave the store. 
In this way, a buyer has a check on bill of lading weights and 
if the ex-store weights show a loss of over 1 per cent. of bill of 
lading weights, the seller gives the buyer credit for the whole 
amount of the shortage. The cold-store weights must be sent 
to the seller within 28 days of the discharge of the steamer, 
otherwise he is not liable to make up this shortage. 
The c.i.f. business must be handled with great care as disputes 
can easily arise. To obviate them, as far as possible, the 
British Incorporated Society of Meat Importers has drawn up 
a standard contract form based upon experience of disputes. 
(b) F.O.B. (Free on Board).—This method of sale differs from 
the above in that the buyer pays freight and insurance, the 
money being payable at the port of loading and not discharge. 
Such purchases are not usually made by merchants in this 
country, but may be made by their representatives in the pro- 
ducing country. By paying the freight and insurance. the goods 
can be sold ¢.i1.f. 
(¢) Ex-ship.—This method of sale is similar to a c.i.f. sale, 
except that, in this case, the seller pays the port dues. He, 
himself, presents the documents to the shipping company and 
issues a delivery order in favour of the buyer. As a rule, in 
making an ex-ship sale, a seller retains any insurance survey 
award (g.v.). This sale is usually made just before the ship 
arrives, or even while it is discharging; it is frequently made 
when a seller prefers to take the market prices of the day rather 
than to incur storage charges. From the buyer’s point of view, 
it has the advantage of being made when selling prices are known. 
By deducting the management rate (i.e., the cost of taking to 
store and the first month’s storage) from the ex-store market 
price of the day, the buyer can arrive at practically the equivalent 
sx-ship price.