SO THE CUBA REVIEW 



THE FOREIGN SUGAR TRADE OF THE UNITED STATES 



(Prepared by the Division of Statistics, Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce.) 



An average import price of 5.3 cents a pound, an average export price of 7.3 cents 

 a pound, and an average per capita consumption of 82 pounds in the fiscal year 1919, 

 contrasted with 2 cents, 3.6 cents, and S9 pounds in the fiscal year 1914, are facts 

 brought out by a study of official statistics of sugar imports and exports of the United 

 States for these respective years. 



The import figures further disclose an increase over 1914 of 13.66 per cent, in 

 the quantity and one of 179.2 per cent, in the value of the sugar received during 1919 ; 

 and the export figures, a gain of 999.6 per cent, in quantity and one of 2,195 per cent, 

 in value. 



PRESENT AND PRE-WAR SHIPMENTS 



Between these two years is comprised almost the whole span of the Great War, 

 with its disrupted shipping schedules, its rationing of sugar, and its breaking down 

 of trade traditions in the matter of sources of supply. Certain of the countries of 

 Europe that became large purchasers from the United States possessed sugar indus- 

 tries of their own which the war interrupted or destroyed ; others had been wont to 

 procure their supplies from Germany and Austria-Hungary, out of the surpluses of 

 domestic beet sugar which were available in these countries in normal times, or from 

 the United Kingdom, which, producing no sugar itself, was nevertheless a not unim- 

 portant trader in foreign and colonial sugars. When these normal sources of supply 

 were no longer open, northern Europe and Greece, Italy and Spain in southern 

 Europe (and, for a time, Switzerland, too) made heavy calls upon the American 

 market. How fully these demands were met by the United States is graphically 

 shown in the comparative statistics presented below : 



Fiscal Year Ended June 30 — 



1914 1916 1917 1918 1919 



Exported to — Pounds Pounds Pounds Pounds Pounds 



Belgium 9,084,473 25,643,61S 25,864,619 37,142,473 



Denmark 4,330,565 4,986,564 1,568,000 3,287,128 



France . . 1,000 350,296,244 47S.907.887 270,694,062 385,113,162 



Gibraltar 5,658,480 560,000 112,000 48,059,500 



Greece 33,511,160 27,256,534 225,000 9,328,320 



Ita ly 20,912,913 58,586,230 10,5S5,51S 88,384,082 



Netherlands 18,332,170 8,812,648 560,000 



Norway 96,264,757 109,200,134 13,246,638 17,020,101 



Spain . . 2S4.859 23,749,380 64,991,946 7,224,077 49,970,548 



Switzerland 36,791,230 23,905,680 3,960 2,268,210 



United Kingdom.. 1,514,875 932,458,299 198,713,168 77,712,822 317,642,91S 



Canada " 419 353 642,253 841,892 11,936,008 59,671,218 



Panama "' ... 8,715,106 6,964,767 6,492,342 1,424,956 1,906,643 



Mexico 5,426,125 13,764,626 34,709,232 18,761,715 1S,497,090 



Newfoundland and 



Labrador .. 12,763,265 9,493,422 8,935,002 3,442.828 6,745,675 



West Indies .... 9,746,079 7,526,807 9,727,140 1,830,761 1,885,934 



Argentina . 52,830 4,329,402 89,914,919 92,618.940 216,200 



Uruguay ... 10,000 40,S92,41S 46,017,304 21,607,726 18,531,400 



Philippine Islands 5,755,294 2,025,717 274,200 16,724 10,976 



British Africa 315,296 3,873,871 5,976,553 3,095,579 681,347 



Other countries... 5,892,644 9,247,909 44,275,293 14,511,117 48,942,599 



Total to for- 

 eign coun- 

 tries 50,895,726 1,630,150,S63 1,248,908,286 576,483,050 1,115,S65,524 



