February i, 1903.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



175 



REVIEW OF THE CRUDE RUBBER MARKET. 



TH E situation in the crude rubber marttet is one of uncer- 

 tainty. During most of [anuary prices were firm, with- 

 out material change from our last quotations. But the 

 close of the month brings a decline, though Centrals 

 and Africans are higher. Receipts at Para during 1902 were 

 28.758 tons (including Caucho), against 30,290 in 1901. Re- 

 ceipts this season, up to January 27, were only 14475 tons, 

 against 17,460 tons to February i last year. The production of 

 some other important rubber sorts has also fallen oflf. These 

 facts, in connection with active consumption and exceptionally 

 small visible supplies of Pard grades, should tend to advance 

 prices, and indeed fine old rubber is quoted to-day 12 @ 13 cents 

 higher than one year ago. But meanwhile much lower prices 

 have ruled, and since the advance began consumers have 

 bought less freely, in the hope of another decline. 



Every branch of the industry appears to be well employed' 

 with goods orders for work ahead, and unless the factories have 

 more rubber in store than they are believed to have, more lib 

 eral buying must begin soon, with a stiffening effect upon 

 prices. The higher rates for coarse Pards, with which the year 

 opened have stimulated the buying of Centrals and Africans, 

 which have gone up still further. Large purchases for Ameri- 

 can account have been made at the Antwerp inscriptions, where, 

 on January 27, prices again showed an advance oyer brokers' 

 valuations, though by no means so marked as at the two pre- 

 ceding auctions. 



While the law of supply and demand in the long run fixes 

 the price of crude rubber — as in the case of every other com- 

 modity — to the consumer, the operation of the law is not al- 

 ways immediate or direct. Else crude rubber should be higher 

 than for a long time past. But the market may be affected 

 temporarily by transactions of middlemen incident to the se- 

 curing of rubber to cover orders, and the depression of prices 

 at this moment may be due to such a cause. It must be remem- 

 bered that low priced rubber at the prime markets— as Paid or 

 Antwerp— is always desired by the importer, rather than high 

 priced rubber, and efforts to check an advance are often at- 

 tempted, though they can be only temporary in their influence, 

 values being determined finally, in every market, by the pres- 

 sure of the consuming demand. On the whole, therefore, it is 

 probable that the rubber manufacturers have given ijotice of 

 an advance on their goods none too soon. 

 New York quotations on January 30 were : 



PARA. Lopori ball, prime 78 (0)79 



Islands, fine, new S3 @84 Lopori strip, do ....76 @77 



Islands, fine, old 88 ©89 Ikelemba 80 (58i 



Upriver, fine, new. . . .86 ©87 Madagascar, pinky.. . .77 @78 



Upriver, fine, old 91 @g2 CENTRALS. 



Islands, coarse, new... 53 ©54 Esmeralda, sausage. . .69 (3.70 



Islands, coarse, old... @ Guayaquil, strip 62 (§63 



Upriver, coarse, new.. 7 1 (§72 Nicaragua, scrap .. . .68 @6g 



Upriver, coarse, old. . . @ Panama, slab 58 @6o 



Caucho(Peruvian)sheet 56 ©57 Me.xican, scrap 67 @68 



Caucho (Peruvian) ball 69 @70 Mexican, slab 58 @6o 



AFRICAN. Mangabeira, sheet 49 @50 



Sierra Leone, 1st quality77 (0)78 EAST INDIAN 



f^^^^'^'J^-i 77 @78 ^,33„ None here. 



Benguella. 63 ©64 gorneo 38 @52 



Cameroon ball 58 ©59 



Gaboon flake 34 @35 GUTTA-PERCHA. 



Gaboon lump 36 (0137 Prime, red (32 25 



Niger paste 20 @2[ Prime, white @i 50 



Accra flake 20 @2i Lower grades .. . ..75 ©1.25 



Accrabuttons 58 ©59 Reboiled, prime 75 ©.90 



Accra strips 59 (360 Reboiled, inferior 10 @ .25 



Late Para cables quote : 



Per Kilo. Per Kilo. 



Islands, fine 5v4c-o Upriver, fine 6I250 



Islands, coarse 2$Soo Upriver, coarse 4$750 



Exchange, I i]^J. 

 Last Manaos advices: 



Upriver, fine 6.$ooo Upriver, coarse ^$100 



Exchange, ii||<^ 



NEW YORK PRICES FOR DECEMBER (NEW RUBBER). 



igo2, igoi. igoo. 



Upriver, fine Sc@9i 85(^87 92 (3)95 



Upriver, coarse 65@73 65@65 67^-<@69 



Islands, fine 74@88 79@8i 86 ©89 



Islands, coarse 49(^60 48@5r 53 @;4^ 



Cameta, coarse '. . 54©6i 50(351 54 ©56 



In regard to the financial situation, Albert B. Beers (broker 

 in India-rubber, No. 58 William street, New York) advises us : 



" As usual for the month of January, the money market 

 started very firm, with high rates for such small amount of 

 paper as could be placed, but since the middle of the month 

 rates have gradually eased, and are now about 5^ per cent, for 

 the best rubber paper, and 5^ @ 6 per cent, for that not so 

 well known." 



I^ubber Scrap "Prices. 



New York quotations — prices paid by consumers show no 

 increase over the figures reported last month : 



Old Rubber Boots and Shoes — Domestic 7^ @ 7^ 



Do — Foreign t% @ t^ 



Pneumatic Bicycle Tires 5 ^ 



Solid Rubber Wagon and Carriage Tires byi 



White Trimmed Rubber 9^ ®9H. 



Heavy Black Rubber 4^^ 



Air Brake Hose 2^ @ 2^ 



Fire and Large Hose 2li 



Garden Hose i '/i 



Matting I 



United States Crude Rubber Imports — Official. 



1900. 



United Kingdom pounds 7,640.073 



Germany 1,428,339 



Other Europe 6,124,247 



Central America 1,363,131 



Mexico 362,960 



West Indies 35,125 



Brazil 30,571,680 



Other South America I,i6t,897 



East Indies 600,306 



Other countries . 49,425 



Total founds 49,337,183 



Exports 3,849,276 



Net imports 45,487907 51,317,252 47,601,282 



Value of imports ....128,577,789 I28, 120,218 $25,160,391 



Av. Value per pound 58 cents, 51 cents. 49,4 cents. 



Gutta-Percha. 



Weise & Co. (Rotterdam) report the following exports from 

 Singapore for the first eleven months of four years past : 



1S99. igoo. 1901. IQ02. 



Tons 651,8 5740 5214 3898 



The Public Ledger, of London, gives a statement of prices of 

 Gutta-percha in that market at the end of 1902, in connection 

 with which we present the equivalent values in United States 

 currency. The same figures, by the way, were given by the 

 same journal at the end of 1901. The figures follow : 



Good to fine pound ^s 9^ to 8,t, 61/, =$1,155 to .$2,068 



Low to medium ^ti \.o ^s. bd — .101 to 1.OQ5 



