THl!. CUBA REVIKW 



29 



COST OF AMERICAN CANE SUGAR 

 COMPARED WITH CUBAN 



The cost of producing cano susar in the 

 United States and i)oss(>ssi(jns is compared 

 with that in Cuba in a report entitled "The 

 Cane Sugar Industry,'' issued June 30, 1.917, 

 by the Bureau of Foreign and Doniertic 

 Commerce, of the Department of Commerce. 

 Forty-nine per cent, of the total sugar con- 

 sumed in the United States is produced in 

 seven of our western States, two of our 

 Southern States, and our insular pos-sessions. 

 The remaining fifty-one per cent, comes from 

 Cuba and other foreign countries. The 

 Bureau's report is the first thorough study 

 of actual conditions in the competing sugar 

 regions that has ever been published. 



According to the Government investiga- 

 tors, the average cost of producing cane 

 sugar in Hawaii during the normal crop year 

 1913-1914 was $44.59 f. o. b. factory. In 

 Porto Fico it was $52.29, in Louisiana $79.50, 

 and in Cuba $28.92. The average marketing 

 cost per ton from factory to dehvery in the 

 United States was, for Hawaii $9.34, for 

 Porto Eico, $4.27 and for Cuba $5.46. 



Per poimd of sugar delivered in the United 

 States, the average cost of the Hawaiian 

 product was 2.697 cents, of the Porto Rican 

 2.328 cents, of Louisiana sugar 3.975 cents, 

 and for the Cuban 1.719 cents, not counting 

 the duty. With the duty added the cost of 

 Cuban sugar deUvered in the L'nited States 

 was 2.7238 cents. For 96 per cent, of all 

 the beet .sugar produced in the United States 

 during the same crop year the average cost 

 f. o. b. factory was 3.74 cents a pound. 



In Hawaii the average cane production 

 per acre harvested for mill was 43.92 tons, 

 in Porto Eico 20.45 tons, in Louisiana 18.29 

 tons, and in Cuba 21.32 tons. For every 

 acre of cane, Hawaii produced an average of 

 10,992 pounds of sugar, Porto Rico 4,539 

 poimds, and Cuba 4,912 pounds. Louisiana's 

 highest average production during the crop 

 years 1909-10, 1910-11 and 1911-12 was 

 2,616 pounds of sugar per acre. 



The most scientific and intensive system 

 of cultivation is practiced in Hawaii, in 

 striking contrast with the exiensive system 

 in vogue in Cuba. The cane-cutting, loading 

 and transportation methods contrast very 

 favorably with those of Cuba; the rushing 

 of the cane by fluming from the harvest 

 field to the factory and the bringing of the 

 railwav track and car upon the heels of the 



cane cutters in all jtarts of the fields in Hawaii 

 are very modem developments when com- 

 pared with the laborious and preci.sc adjast- 

 ment of each stalk in the ox-cart, and the 

 slow hauling of the cane by o.\ teams to the 

 railroad, to be reloaded and hauled to the 

 mill in Cuba. In the extraction of juice 

 from the cane in Hawaiian factories and in 

 other milling and scientific processes the 

 r(>sults attained are the best of all cane- 

 sugar countries. Eecaase of the fact that 

 Hawaii represents the best efforts of the 

 I'nited States and its insular possessions, 

 the Bureau's report makes extended compari- 

 sons between the conditions and results in 

 Hawaii and those of its principal competitor 

 and the main source of our foreign sugar 

 supply, the island of Cuba. 



Although the exhaustive report (it con- 

 tains 462 pages) is given over largely to a 

 discussion of the cost of producing sugar, 

 there are included some interesting statistics 

 of the world's production of cane and beet 

 sugar since the Brassels Convention of 1903, 

 the destination of cane and beet sugar ex- 

 ported from each country, and the source 

 of the sugar imports of each country together 

 with the annual and per capita consumption. 

 It also gives the average, the highest and the 

 lowest prices per pound at New York for 

 each month and each year from 1904 to 1916 

 of 96 centrifugal raw and fine granulated 

 sugars, together with the differences between 

 the wholesale prices of raw and refined sugar 

 and the differences between the wholesale 

 and retail prices of refined sugar. 



The report is the last that will be issued 

 by the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic 

 Commerce on the cost of production in this 

 country as compared with that in other 

 countries, as the division that did this work, 

 known as the Cost of Production Division, 

 has been taken over by the Tariff Board, 

 where the expert knowledge of the members 

 of the staff will be used in making investiga- 

 tions of production costs for the guidance of 

 the Board in suggesting changes in tariff 

 schedules. The full title of the bulletin is 

 "The Cane Sugar Industry; Agricultiu-al 

 Manufacturing and Marketing Costs in 

 Hawaii, Porto Rico, Louisiana and Cuba," 

 Miscellaneous Series No. 53. 



LABORATORY 



The new laboratory of the Department of 

 Agriculture at Havana was opened early in 

 August. 



