May 1, 1921 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



611 



400 pounds, value £1,793,766, as compared witli 18,121,400 pounds, 

 value il,997,38S the year before. It will be noted that though the 

 quantity' increased by 233,000 pounds in 1920, the value decreased 

 by i203,619. 



Reexports of crude rubber were 132,653,900 pounds, value £13,- 

 971.875 in 1919, a,t;ainst 120,753,900 pounds, value £13,854,944, 

 showing a small decrease. 



All domestic exports showed substantial advance. The rate of 

 increase was highest in the case of submarine cables, exports of 

 which rose from £622,633 in 1919 to £1,776,940 in 1920— and in- 

 sulated wire, the value of which jumped from £827,732 to £1,752,- 

 910. More than half the value of exports of manufactured goods 

 was accounted for by tires and tubes, the total in 1920 being 

 £6.500,761 as compared with £4,257,651 the year before. 



Mere it might be worth while to call attention to the fact that 

 imports of tires and tubes during 1920 were not far behind the 

 exports for the same year, having ainounted to £5,577,078. This 

 total was over two and a half times as large as that for 1919, 

 which came to £2,148,989. 



Another interesting bit of comparison may be made with re- 

 gard to the item boots and shoes. The value of domestic exports 

 rose from £240,849 in 1919 to £397,763, whereas the value of im- 

 ports increased from £294,338 to £714,685 in 1920. It is re- 

 grettable that the statistics do not give the imports and exports 

 of manufactured articles by countries. 



Exports of waterproof clothing nearly doubled in value, the 

 1919 figures having been £1,728,828, while the 1920 figures read 

 £2,930,240. Other rubber manufactures showed a similar growth, 

 the totals being £2,831,183 and £4,689,739, respectively. Waste and 

 reclaimed rubber reached a value of £397,763 during 1920, as 

 compared with £240,849 the year before. Rubber substitutes were 

 not separately mentioned before 1920, when the total amounts 

 exported valued £123,346. 



EUROPEAN RUBBER NOTES 

 By Our Regular Correspondent 



HOLLAND'S RUBBER TRADE IN 1920 

 /Conditions in the rubber trade in Holland during 1920 were 

 ^^ similar to those reported from most countries ; large imports 

 and exports, good prices during the first few months followed by 

 diminishing demand and falling prices. Although the volume of 

 trade was greater than in 1919, the general tone of the market 

 was depressed. 



The chief set-back was the failure of the expected large orders 

 from America to materialize, which resulted in a general col- 

 lapse in the Holland market that became so serious in the clos- 

 ing months of the year that several important firms had to sus- 

 pend payments. 



During 1920, total imports of crude rubber amounted to 26,074 

 metric tons (metric ton equals 2,204 pounds), of which 849 tons 

 were wild rubber, 25,134 tons plantation rubber and 91 tons old 

 rubber. The figures for 1919 were 1,274 tons of wild rubber, 

 13,614 tons of plantation rubber and 397 tons of old rubber — total 

 15,285 tons. 



Exports amounted to 14,532 metric tons in 1920 and consisted 

 of 1,176 tons of wild rubber, 13,296 tons of plantation and 60 tons 

 of old rubber. In 1919 the total was 9,598 tons and consisted of 

 187 tons wild, 9,355 plantation, 56 tons of old rubber. 



All of the exports of wild rubber went to Germany and Austria. 

 Germany also took 7,021 tons of plantation rubber in 1920 as 

 against 3,869 tons the previous year. The United States took 

 5,229 tons in 1920 as compared with 5,058 tons the year before. 

 The Congo supplied 35 per cent of the imports of wild rubber and 

 Brazil about 40 per cent. The Netherlands East Indies furnished 

 11,422 tons of plantation rubber during 1920, the rest of the im- 

 ports arriving from various parts of the world by way of Great 

 Britain. 



Rubber authorities in Holland are rather sceptical about the 



efficacy of the rubber output restriction as a means of keeping up 

 prices, believing that the only hope of better prices is in im- 

 proved demand, especially from the United States. At present 

 the demand from Germany is poor and the outlook not very 

 promising. 



Holland's imports from the United States included oil and rub- 

 ber tissue, value $215,329 in 1920 and $357,546 in 1919; automobile 

 tires, $1,490,170 in 1920 as against $1,620,024 in 1919; other rub- 

 ber goods, 207,651 in 1920 and $154,818 the previous year. The 

 value of Holland's exports of crude and manufactured rubber to 

 the Vnhcd States in 1920 was $3,347,456 as against $3,135,950 in 

 1919. 



Although the trade outlook toward the end of 1920 was very 

 discouraging yet it is noteworthy that, due to the business done in 

 the early part of 1920, the year showed a record trade between 

 Holland and the United States. 



FRANCE 



Assistant Trade Commissioner Donald L. Breed, Prague, re- 

 ports that, according to the terms of the commercial treaty be- 

 tween Czecho-Slovakia and France, the former country agrees to 

 import 3,500 metric tons of French rubber goods. It is stated 

 that this quantity is sufficient to cover the needs of Czecho-Slo- 

 vakia for six years. 



At a recent meeting of the Societe du Caoutchouc-Mousse it 

 was decided to increase the capital from 2,500,000 to 3,000,000 

 francs. It was announced that the factories at Aurec, Loire, are 

 developing and that other manufactures were to be added. At 

 present the company makes chiefly hollow play balls and recently 

 the process has been improved and made more economical. 



The Societe "Caoutchouc Industrie! du Sud," 2 bis, rue Ribotti, 

 Nice, has raised its capital to one million francs. 



M. Gruenais, rubber manufacturer at Arcueil-Cachan, has estab- 

 lished a second factory at Antony. 



GERMANY 



The news of the decisions regarding the Entente plans of tax- 

 ing German exports to England, France and Belgium, has caused 

 considerable agitation. The so-called "sanctions" are termed acts 

 of violence and various business associations urge cooperation 

 against this attempt to "destroy German industry, exports and 

 economy." The Zentral Verband der Deutschen Kautschuk-ln- 

 dustrie (Central Union of the German rubber industry) Berlin, 

 has published a call to the rubber industry to take action against 

 the sanctions, by not purchasing from England any crude rub- 

 ber or other material of English or French origin. It is urged 

 that only rubber be bought that is proved to be of Dutch origin 

 or that was ordered or stored by German dealers before the 

 sanctions came into force. 



Furthermore, German representatives of British firms deal- 

 ing in rubber and other raw material, are to be informed that 

 offers for their British clients cannot for the time being be con- 

 sidered. 



The Union of the Hamburg Import Trade resolved at a recent 

 meeting that German merchants are in honor bound to abstain 

 from buying directly or indirectly from enemy countries that 

 have approved the sanctions. 



The Hansa-Bund warns against dealing with English, French 

 or Belgium firms and advises that all import and export busi- 

 ness be done with neutral states and with Italy. This country 

 did not accept the sanctions. 



Among further weapons to be used against the sanctions may 

 be mentioned : 



Freeing of a inmiber of articles from the export ban. 



.'Abolition of price control of most goods and of quantity con- 

 trol in many departments. 



Extreme stringency in the provisions regarding imports, par- 

 ticularly with regard to prohibitions of import of superfluous 

 foreign goods. 



