THE CUBA REVIEW 



33 



THE SUGAR INDUSTRY 



THE SUGAR SUPPLY OF THE UNITED 

 KINGDOM 



The decision of tho (iovornnioiit to rostrict 

 yet further the supph- oi sugar to tlio country 

 has led the Royal ('oinnn'ssion on tho Sugar 

 Supply to issue a Memorandum (('(/.H'.V.).ii), in 

 which they ex])lain 1h(;ir desin; to distribute 

 the available (juantity of sugar as fairly and 

 equitably as is ])ossible. They point out that 

 in 1915 purchasers of sugar drew their suj)- 

 plies from three sources, viz: (1) the British 

 refiners, (2) the Royal Commission itself, and 

 (3) so-called "free-sugar," lieing sugar im- 

 ported by license in fulfillment of existing 

 contracts. This year there have been and con- 

 tinue to be, to all intents and i)ui-poses, but 

 two sources; namely, the first two above 

 mentioned. 



The refiners have been instructed this year 

 to issue their supply of sugar only to their 

 customers of 1915, and to each the same pro- 

 portion of the quantity available each week or 

 each month, as that customer's total purchases 

 during 1915 bore to the refiner's total sales for 

 that year. Thus the Royal Conmiission en- 

 deavours to secure that each custom.er will 

 get his fair share. 



As regards the sugar dealt with directh' by 

 the Royal Commission, the same principle is 

 followed, all the direct buyers having been re- 

 quired to make a return of all the sugar used 

 and distributed by them in 1915, and on these 

 returns the supplies now avilable are appor- 

 tioned, pro rata to the various piu-chasers. 

 Retailers are also expected to distrbute their 

 supplies to their customers as fairly as possible. 



Finally, the Royal Commission take the 

 opportunity to contradict an impression that 

 seems to have got abroad that each buyer of 

 sugar this year is entitled to claim 75% of the 

 quantity of sugar he had in 1915. This is not 

 so; the Royal Commission very naturally 

 cannot say definitely what proportion of the 

 1915 supplies will henceforward be available. 

 It may approximate to 759c; it may l)e less. 

 All that can be said by them is that every en- 

 deavom- is being made to distribute whatever 

 quantity there may be in the most equitable 

 manner possible. — -The Internntional Sugar 

 Journal. 



AMERICAN BEET-SUGAR INDUSTRY 



Riissia now occui)ies IIk; chief jjosition a> 

 the source of sugar-beet seeds for the United 

 States. liefon; the war a very large propor- 

 tion of these seeds came from Germany. .\ 

 greatly increased total of purchases is shrjwn 

 by figures compiled for the nine months ended 

 September :iO, 191(5, t)y the Bureau of Korcign 

 and Domestic Commerce. Record-breaking 

 imjjorts foreshadow great activity in the sugar- 

 beet industry in this country-. 



For the nine months mentioned the imports 

 of seed reached a total of 18,500,000 pounds, 

 which is 1,000,000 i)ounds more than were 

 imported during the complete calendar years 

 1913 and 1914, and nearly double those for the 

 full year 1912. 



In the fiscal year 1914 Germany supf)lied 

 nearly 9,000,000 pounds out of a total of H),- 

 250,000 povmds, the remainder coming chiefly 

 from Austria-Hungary, Russia, and Holland. 

 In the fiscal year 1916 Russia supplied 5,881,- 

 946 pounds out of a total of 9,042,490 pounds 

 Imports of beet seed into the United States 

 for the calendar years 1911 to 1916 were as 

 follows: 



Pounds J 



1911 11,025,.531 



1912 9,8.54,894 



1913 ]7,()44.721 



1914 17,."w7,062 



1915 4,029,022 



1916 (9 months) 18,474,995 



It is an interesting fact that exports of re- 

 fined sugar in the first nine months of 1916 

 totaled 1,388,650,984 pounds, or nearly 50 

 per cent more than during the whole calendar 

 year 1915, 3^2 times more than in 1914, and 

 26 times more than in 1913. 



CENTRALS GRINDING 



On Dec. 26th there were 48 Central.^ 

 grinding as compared with SO at correspond- 

 ing date, 1915. 



COST OF SUGAR PRODUCTION 



A commission of the Department of Com- 

 merce, Washington, has been recenth' making 

 an investigation a.s to the cost of ])rodiicing 

 sugar, and it is stated that the cost of extrac- 

 tion is approximately the .same in Porto Rico 

 and Hawaii, and it is furthermore estimated 

 that the cost of producing sugar in Cuba is 

 about Ic. per lb. less than in Porto Rico and 

 Hawaii. 



