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THE CUBA REVIEW 



THE SUGAR INDUSTRY 



SUGAR CONTROL 



An interesting comment on the world's 

 sugar situation, with particular relation 

 to the results that would follow the re- 

 moval of restrictions in the British mar- 

 ket, appears in a letter of Edwin Tate, 

 vice-chairman of Henry Tate & Sons, 

 Ltd., published an the London Times. 

 After referring to the general situation 

 Mr, Tate wrote: 



In April permission was given to im- 

 port, without restriction, sugar for manu- 

 facturing purposes, with the result that 

 contracts have been made at prices 

 equivalent to £12 to £13 a ton over the 

 prices of controlled sugar for grocery 

 purposes, which are at present in this 

 country at least Id. per pound, or nearly 

 £10 a ton, lower than in any other coun- 

 try. -What would, therefore, be the effect 

 of the control on sugar being altogether 

 removed? Yet we hear pressure is being 

 brought to bear that this should happen. 



The world's production of sugar is 

 something like 2,000,000 . tons less than 

 before the war, and all countries, with the 

 exception of England and America, are 

 short of stocks, and this position cannot 

 possibly be improved until the autumn of 

 next year. Therefore, were the control on 

 sugar to be entirely removed the inev- 

 itable result would lie free buying with 

 limited sellers, and a rise of considerably 

 more than the present difference between 

 the price in the United Kingdom and the 

 world's price. The extent of the possible 

 rise in prices cannot be estimated, for 

 there will be an opportunity for specula- 

 tors to operate such as they have not had 

 for many a year. The public will see in 

 this nothing but profiteering, and it is for 

 the Royal Commission on the Sugar Sup- 

 ply to see that this does not happen. 



The Commission has done well through 

 a difficult time, and it would be a thou- 

 sand pities were they to give up the con- 

 trol of sugar until the return to more 

 normal conditions. 



SUGAR REFINING IN GREAT BRITAIN 

 A report by the select committee on 

 national expenditure has just been pub- 

 lished in the form of a Government 

 "White Paper," describing the work of 

 the National Sugar Commission, which 

 has had charge of the securing and dis- 

 tributing of supplies of sugar since the 

 time when sugar was rationed, and which, 

 after referring to the fact that it has 

 recently been able to increase the weekly 

 ration of sugar from eight ounces to 

 twelve ounces per week, gives some in- 

 teresting information concerning the re- 

 fining of sugar in this country. The re- 

 port states that the annual capacity of 

 the eleven refineries in the United King- 

 dom is about 900,000 tons, approximately 

 one-half of the former requirements of 

 refined sugar. They have been under con- 

 trol during the war, and were able at one 

 period to produce nearly the whole of the 

 refined sugar consumed, which was ap- 

 proximately 1,100,000 tons. More recent- 

 ly the larger consumption of sugar has 

 made necessary the purchase of large 

 quantities of Cuban sugar refined in the 

 United States at a cost of $1.30 per hun- 

 dredweight in excess of the cost of simi- 

 lar sugar produced from the British re- 

 fineries. On the other hand, when freights 

 are available, the present cost in this 

 country of Java sugar refined in the East 

 Indies is somewhat less than the cost of 

 Java sugar refined in the United Kingdom, 

 though the latter is of better quality. No 

 export of beet sugar from Central Europe 

 can be expected for some time. 



SUGAR IN ITALY 

 Sugar is selling in Italy at 2% lire 

 a pound (the normal value of the lire is 

 19.3 cents) according to Thomas B. Gale, 

 American vice-consul at Naples, who has 

 just returned to the United States. Mr. 

 Cale is quoted as saying that Italy is 

 passing through a post-war period of gen- 

 erally inflated prices, in which sugar is 

 only keeping pace with other commodities. 



