February i, 1902.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER ^''ORLD 



163 



Lmerpool. 



Wii.LiAiM Wright & Co. report [January 2] : 



Fine Pard. — There has been a good demand for spot rubber at steady 

 prices, and the tone of the market at the close is firm ; Upriver 3^. id.. 

 Islands, 3^. fsd. Old Upriver sold at 3^. qj^i/. The demand in Pari 

 is strong, especially for America, and the advent of winter in the States 

 ought certainly to help prices in the near future, especially if the predic- 

 tion as to crop supplies is realized. Reviewing the situution as a whole, 

 we think the market is in a sound position. There is little or no specu- 

 lation, trade has been on the whole good, prices are considerably lower 

 than they have been for some time past, stocks are well held, and 

 the general anticipation is that early in the new year we shall see an im- 

 provement both in demand and prices ; at any rate, in our opinion, 

 present rates are worth manufacturers' attention. Sales on spot total 

 200 tons as above ; for delivery the demand has been quiet, closing 

 prices for Upriver being y. id. to y. 7}^</., and Islands 3^. bd. to y. 

 ty^d., according to position. 



Mr. a. J. FoNTANNAZ, until December 31 last Liverpool 

 agent of the Cie. Fran^aise de I'Afrlque Occidentale (with 

 6,000,000 francs capital and head offices at Marseilles), retired 

 on that date to become a member of the produce brokerage 

 firm of William Porter & Co., The Albany buildings, Liver- 

 pool. ^=The Liverpool house of the French company named, 

 at 6, Castle street, has been placed in charge of Mr. A. Pour- 

 riere, for some time in charge of the company's Sierra Leone 

 house, and who is fully acquainted with all the branches of 

 their business. 



Marius & Levy report [January 14J: "Receipts [of Paras] 

 have increased so far by about 2400 tons in excess of the last 

 crop, but on the other hand, Mediums [Africans, etc.] have de- 

 creased 2560 tons, which balances the excess of the Para crop. 

 Fine Para has touched a figure which has not been seen for 

 many years, and we may say that it is now the cheapest rubber 

 in the world, and that fact will bring more buyers forward for 

 this grade." They emphasize the fact, however, that low 

 prices never have been known to increase production, so that 

 curtailed supplies will, in the end, result in another advance in 

 rubber. 



London. 



Edward Till & Co., under date of January i, report stocks : 



1902. 1901. 1900. 

 f Para sorts tons — — — 



London i ^°'°*° ''*'* **" '79 



1 Assam and Rangoon. . . 52 30 17 



[^ Other sorts 442 788 448 



Total 638 1038 644 



Liverpool 1 ^"^ '302 776 440 



^'^^'^*^°°'' i Other sorts 854 1087 771 



Total United Kingdom 2794 2goi 1855 



Total. December I 2525 3061 1789 



Total, November 1 2602 3040 i860 



Total, October I ..2S02 2846 1831 



Total, September I 2736 3170 1988 



Total, August I 2944 3645 1878 



Total, July 1 3128 3653 2247 



PRICES PAID DtJRING DECE.MBER. 



1901. 1900. 1899. 



Para fine, hard 3/7 @3/7} 3/9^'«'3/io 4/55@4/6J 



Do soft 3/4j@3/6i 3M@4/- 4/7 



Negroheads, Islands 2/oJfe2/i 2/ii 2/g 



Do scrappy 2/7 ©2/9 2/9 @2/io 3/7 ^a>^|1\ 



Bolivian 3/7j@3/9 No sales. 4/7 



The partnership of Jackson & Till, Mincing lane, London, 

 expired by limitation of time on December 31. The business 

 of the recent firm will be continued in two separate branches — 

 that of rice under the style of Jackson, Son &-• Co., and that of 

 India-rubber and Gutta-percha under the style of Edward Till 



&• Co., embracing Mr. Edward Till, his nephew, H. S. Till, and 

 his son, E. W. Till. Both firms will occupy the same offices as 

 hitherto. 



Figgis & Co. say, in their annual review: "The year has 

 shown a continued increase of demand for the finer rubbers at 

 relatively higher prices, and the European consumption of fine 

 Para considerably exceeds any previous year, English manu- 

 facturers have been very busy ; Continental fairly so. Ameri- 

 can were less occupied, until the last three months. On the 

 whole, the year has been a very active one." 



Anttverp. 



Emile Grisar's annual review for 1901 shows a continued 

 growth of this market, due to increased activity of producers 

 in Africa. The efforts to build up a market for other than 

 Congo sorts at Antwerp have not been encouraging on account 

 of irregular supplies, lack of uniform qualities, and the prefer- 

 ence of buyers in this market for Congo rubbers. The follow- 

 ing comparison bears upon this subject, showing the source of 

 rubber imports (in kilograms) : 



1899. lyoo. 1901. 



Congo Free State. .. . 2,992,414 4,902,003 5,417,456 

 Other countries 410,466 796,032 431,746 



Total 3,402,880 5,698,035 5,849,202 



At times during the year there have been large accumula- 

 tions of rubber here, but concessions which were made in prices 

 attracted a wider circle of buyers, and stocks were reduced. The 

 actual production of the Congo Free State may now be con- 

 sidered as normal, and the efforts of the agents of the different 

 companies appear to be directed more to improving the quality 

 of the product and '.o the proper storage than to increasing the 

 output. The plans of the newly organized " Syndicat du Kas- 

 sai " lead to the hope of an important increase in the value of 

 the rubber production in the basins of the Kassai and Lualaba 

 rivers. Those districts sent formerly some of the finest rubber 

 ever seen in Antwerp, since which, owing to the pressure of 

 buyers for rubber the quality has diminished to an embarrass- 

 ing degree, the negroes caring only for the quantity produced. 

 Many lots from that region during the year consisted of balls 

 of which only the outside was rubber, the interior being badly 

 mixed with bark and other foreign matters. The quality of 

 the so called " white " Upper Congo rubbers still leaves much 

 to be desired. The trouble has been due in part to the admix- 

 ture of rubber milk from different plants, and partly to insuffi- 

 cient drying of the rubber. Prices at Antwerp improved dur- 

 ing the first part of the year — especially in April, when there 

 was heavy buying for America — after which they declined 

 materially. There was again some improvement toward the 

 end of the year, but the close was at a lower level than twelve 

 months before. 



comparative prices. 



Grades. 



Kassai, red francs per kilo. 



Lopori, Bussira, Equateur, Lulonga, 



Ikelemba 



Aruwimi 



Mongalla 



Upper Congo, ordinary 



Lower Congo red thimbles 



Fine Para 



C. ScHMiD & Co. report [January 2] that the market had 

 been featureless since the last preceding sale, only small lots 

 having changed hands at unchanged prices. Prices had de- 

 clined, on an average, about 6 per cent, during 1901. The pro- 

 duction of rubber in the Congo Free State seems to have 



