t ii i; c b a n i: v i E w :;l 



SUGAR REVIEW 



Specially written for THE CUBA REVIEW by Willelt & Gray, New York. 



Since our last review of the United stales sugar markets, dated A.ugus1 29th, 

 the number of centrals grinding has been reduced to one. 'The 194 centrals which 

 have finished the crop have outturned 27,436,578 bags, againsl Messrs. Guma-Mejer's 

 January, 1919, estimate of 27,520,090 bags. Visible production lias now reached ihe 



figure of 3,758,957 lens and the total crop will he in (lie neighborh 1 of four million 



tons, as estimated. The new crop conditions constitute the main feature of interest. 

 There has been a steady demand for these sugars and prices have shown an im- 

 portant advance. December shipment Cubas, which have sold at G%c f. o. b. Cuba are 

 now selling at 7c f. o. b. Cuba. The other months have also shown an improvement as 

 the sale of late December combined with early January brought 6%c f. o. b. Cuba. 

 For some time it has been relatively easy to purchase February-March sugars at 

 6%c f. o. b., but the market has now become firm at 6%c with sale of February 

 at this figure. The quantity of new crop sold is now estimated at close to 500/(00 

 tons. 



Price of full duty sugars such as San Domingos, Perus, etc., have naturally been 

 affected by the general demand, and San Domingos, after selling at '''.75c to G.775c 

 c. i. f. New York were sparingly offered at 7c c. i. f.. and then withdrawn, having 

 been sold at the offering price. Perus, which were obtainable for earlier shipment 

 than San Domingos, are offering at about 8c c. i. f. New York after sale of these 

 sugars to Vancouver at 7.50c c. i. f. Vancouver. 



A contract has been entered into by the Hawaiian sugar planters and the two 

 San Francisco sugar refiners, the California & Hawaiian Sugar Refining Co. and the 

 Western Sugar Refining Co., to purchase the Hawaiian crops of the next two years, 

 say 1920 and 1921. For a long period, it has been the custom to sell part of the 

 crop to eastern refiners, the quantity coming east being usually from 200-251 i,i i00 

 tons, but under the new contract no Hawaiian sugars will be forwarded east. < >ne 

 of the reasons for the new purchases is that for the past few years the Western Re- 

 finery has been receiving all the 96° test Philippine sugars, amounting to somewhat 

 about 40,000 tons per year. The 90° sugars of the new Philippine crop, harvesting 

 of which commences about November, 1919, have all been sold to Japan at prices far 

 above what the Western could pay, and hence the Western Sugar Refining Co. had 

 to find another source of supply by securing additional quantities of Hawaiian sugars. 

 The arrangement noted above only applies to the Western for the 1920 crop, 

 when they will receive 75-100,000 tons additional Ilawaiians. As far as the 1921 

 crop is concerned the C. & H. will receive the entire crop. The latter refinery is 

 making an important increase in its capacity, and which increase will be available 

 for use next year. 



Regarding our domestic cane crop in Louisiana, same has had more or less rain 

 recently, which has been quite welcome. Nevertheless, the campaign in Louisiana 

 will begin much later than usual because of the limited amount of cane that is to be 

 ground, and because of the desire to wait until the last moment in order to give the 

 crop all the opportunity possible to mature. Our estimate of 125,000 tons of sugar 

 as the outturn is still maintained. 



There is little to report regarding the domestic beet situation. Purchases of 

 new crop granulated have been made by the Equalization Board at 9c and at QV 2 c, 

 which sugars will be distributed at the 9c price. Meanwhile new crop California 

 beet sugars for prompt shipment are being offered basis liy 2 c to manufacturers. 

 The situation in the Michigan-Ohio district, however, is unchanged as to the Gov- 

 ernment's attitude toward new crop production. Unless the domestic beet producers 

 offer their sugar freely, which is not likely, owing to the high prices prevailing for 



