THE CUBA REVIEW 



25 



THE SUGAR INDUSTRY 



SUGAR REFINERY FOR MUKDEN. MAN- 

 CHURIA 



A Japanese sugar refinery is to be estab- 

 lished at Mukden. While sugar cane is not 

 adapted to the climate of Manchuria and 

 there are no sugar beets grown in this region, 

 an effort will be made to induce the Chinese 

 to grow the latter, and forward contracts 

 will be made by the refinery to insure a 

 suflicient quantity of beets for sugar manu- 

 facture on a large scale. The Manchuria 

 Daily News of January 25 quotes Mr. Hashi- 

 moto, of the South Manchuria Sugar Refining 

 Co., as follows: 



Work on the factory will be started in April 

 and we hope to complete it in September and 

 to begin manufacture of sugar in October. 

 The principal part of the machinery is to be 

 ordered from the railway workshops, Sha- 

 hokou, and the minor portion from the 

 Osaka Iron Works. Their installation will 

 be set about as the building work progresses, 

 so that it may be completed simultaneously 

 with the completion of the construction work. 



Cultivation of Beet to he Fostered. 



As regards the cultivation of beet, two 

 plans are on the tapis. One is to buy land 

 and raise beet on our own account. The 

 other is to enter into contracts with the 

 Chinese peasants to undertake the task. In 

 the present circumstances the former plan 

 is thought rather unwieldly, and it is more 

 likely that the latter scheme will be adopted. 

 In this respect the arrangements now in 

 force for a like factory at Hulan, North 

 Manchuria, are to be taken into considera- 

 tion in framing the contracts with the peas- 

 ants. As to the encouragement of the cul- 

 tivation of beet, a good word from the 

 landowners and people of local influence 

 would serve to much good. We have some 

 experience in Formosa on this point and 

 stand in a position to profit thereby. 



As regards seed beet, a German species is 

 held as the best. However, it being impos- 

 sible to import it from Germany direct, we 

 intend to procure German species from 

 Southern Europe. As the Manchurian peas- 

 ants must be strangers to beet, we expect 

 that some difficulty will be encountered in 

 breaking them into the knack of its culti- 

 vation. However, such difficulty will be 

 met with only in the first year. The refining 

 of sugar may be taken up about January 

 next year. For raw material either Japanese 

 or Formosan sugar may be imported, as the 

 price may suit us better. 



Some years ago a sugar refinery was 

 plarmed in northern Manchuria. A con- 

 siderable amount of Chinese capital was 



raised for the purpose, and German ma- 

 chinery was purchased and installed. Fi- 

 nancial and other difl^cultics, however, were 

 encountered, and the operations proved 

 unsuccessful. — Consul-General Baker, Muhhn . 



SUGAR NEEDS IN ARGENTINA 



Following the acceptance by the Argentine 

 Government of the bids for the special im- 

 portation of sugar, the bidder for the largest 

 amount failed to produce the required 

 security and this necessitated another call 

 for bids. The bids received in response to 

 the second call represented a total of 22,000 

 tons of sugar, instead of the 60,000 tons de- 

 sired, and the definite bids resulting from the 

 two calls amounted to only 37,000 tons, or 

 about half of the Government's original esti- 

 mate of the country's needs. The conditions 

 of the second call, as published in the Boletin 

 Oficial, were similar to those of the first call, 

 the reduced duties for the special importation 

 of sugar being retained at 2}^ Argentine cents 

 gold per kilo for the refined, and J^ cent 

 for the raw sugar, without the bonus, and 

 with the limitation of 4.10 paper pesos per 

 10 kilos as the maximum wholesale price of 

 the sugar in Argentina. Argentine gold peso 

 equals 96.5 cents; paper peso equals 42.4 

 cents; kilo equals 2.2046 pounds. 



The Revista de Economia y Finanzas be- 

 lieves that the failure to secure acceptable 

 bids for the importat'on of 75,000 tons of 

 sugar is evidence that not so large an amount 

 will be needed before the new crop of cane 

 makes domestic sugar available, somet'me in 

 May. The sugar produced in Argentina last 

 year was about half the normal consumption, 

 but as practically no sugar was exported in 

 1916, and as certain stocks were held over 

 the previous year, it is not improbable that 

 the bids received under this last call will pro- 

 vide a sufficient quantity until the domestic 

 sugar can be put on the market. 



BRITISH INDIA 



The total estimate of the yield of raw sugar 

 for 1917 was placed at 2,626,000 tons. On this 

 basis, the average yield per acre would be 

 2,437 lbs., as compared Avith an average of 

 2,468 lbs. for 1916. 



