August 1, 1921 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



857 



JAVA RUBBER SALES ASSOCIATION 



The rubber cultivating companies in the Netherlands East 

 Indies, following the example of the Java Sales Association, 

 are planning to pool the interests and stocks of the members, 

 and control the sale of these stocks. 



MOULD ON PLANTATION RUBBER 



The subject of mouldy rubber has created a great deal of 

 interest recently and there seems to be much mystery surrounding 

 the subject. There can be no doubt that, to a great extent mould 

 is due to the rubber being insufficiently dried in the factories. It 

 was in their interests when prices were high to rush the rubber 

 through in as short a time as possible, and get it on the market. 

 Many Malayan estates, with greatly increasing crops, found thfir 

 smokehouse accommodation quite insufficient and were forced to 

 cnipt\ tluin too soon to make room for new rubber. Other estates 

 had built their factory in the old part of the estate. As new and 

 distant areas came into bearing the rubber had to be brought long 

 distances and in some cases an anticoagulant was put in the latex 

 to prevent it coagulating before it reached the factory. Rubber so 

 treated takes much longer to dry and through carelessness or 

 necessity it did not receive the extra time necessary in the smoke- 

 house. It is believed that these two causes account for a great 

 percentage of the mouldy rubber in New York and London. 



There have been cases, however, where none of these causes 

 would apply and mould still existed. One manager declares he 

 had followed a shipment personally from the estate to Singapore. 

 It left the estate in perfect condition and yet it was mouldy on 

 arrival. He claims he found a remedy by placing an ordinary 

 ebony ruler in the center of the case during packing and that the 

 small air space left after its withdrawal prevented mould. 



The chief chemist at Buitenzorg, Java, states that the 

 nndercuring of sheet was not responsible for mould ; that the 

 moisture content of the virgin was so small that it was quite 

 impossible to determine its extent. After having spent a year in- 

 vestigating this subject they have concluded that mould is a germ 

 that feeds upon the proteins which are on the surface of the 

 rubber before going to the smoke-house, and the process of smok- 

 ing does not destroy either the germ itself or the food value 

 of the proteins ; and up to the present time they have not been 

 able to find any chemical preparation or germ-killing treatment 

 which will destroy the germ, or the food properties on the sur- 

 face of the rubber. Many estates in Java, after passing the 

 sheet through the rollers, soak it in cold running water from 

 5 to 12 hours to wash as much as possible of the proteins 

 from the .surface of the rubber. Methylated spirit is also used 

 for washing sheets before packing, purely as a mould preventive. 



BRAZIL'S RUBBER TRADE DURING 1920 



FIGURES for the general trade of Brazil during 1920 show an 

 increase of 59.9 per cent in imports as compared with those 

 for 1919, while exports declined 17.3 per cent as against those 

 for the year before. While 1919, a record year all over the world, 

 showed a balance of trade in favor of exports amounting to 39.8 

 per cent, 1920 showed an adverse balance of 13.7 per cent against 

 exports. Exchange conditions have been responsible for this 

 state of affairs and as they still show no improvement, the ad- 

 verse balance of trade for the first four months of 1921 has in- 

 creased considerably. 



-^mong the articles to show decreases in exports was rubber. 

 In 1919 shipments abroad totaled 33,252 tons, value 105,537 

 contos of reis; but in 1920 there were 23,531 tons, value 58,261 

 contos of reis, or a decrease of 29.2 per cent in quantity and 

 44.8 per cent in value. Rubber, which once ranked second only 

 to coffee, has now fallen to twelfth place on the list of specified 

 staples. It is the opinion that cost of production will have to 



be considerably reduced and the price will have to go up again 

 to at least 3$000 per kilo before this trade will regain pre-war 

 level. 



The United States headed the list of countries dealing with 

 Brazil, both as regards exports and imports of all merchandise 

 in general, and of rubber in particular. It is interesting to note 

 that Germany is rapidly forging ahead here and that she ranks 

 third on the list of suppliers of imports. It is thought that if 

 the mark continues low and Germany can secure the necessary 

 tonnage, she will, before long, outstrip England and the United 

 States. Meanwhile she is exporting quantities of goods regularly 

 at prices that are termed ridiculously low. 



Imports of rubber goods, including tires, show an increase 

 of 1,363 tons or almost 100 per cent as compared with 1919, 

 figures being 1.368 tons in 1919 and 2,731 tons in 1920. This 

 great expansion was due to the extraordinary demand for tires 

 for cars which have been imported in large numbers since the 

 armistice and for which there has been an active demand. 



Exports of crude rul)bcr were distributed as follows: 



From— 1919 



M,inaos tons 14.037 



Itacoatiara 112 



Para 17,764 



Maranhao 



Ilha 



Fortaleza . . 

 Pernamljiico 



Bahia 



Rio 



Santos 



Corumba . . . 



Recife 



Natal 



42 



96 



485 



'334 

 87 



'247 

 48 



1920 



11,728 



114 



10,931 



10 



184 



145 



70 



237 



2 



2 



146 



■|V— 1919 



Gertnany tons 



Arsientina 61 



BelKiiim 22 



United State? 23,299 



France 2. 556 



19 



United Kingdom. 



Italy . . . 



Holland 



Povtvigal 



Sweden . 



T.Trnpuay 



Denmark 



6.769 



328 

 32 

 15 



161 

 7 



1920 



639 



6 



138 



13.812 



1,475 



7,302 



2 



163 



11 



40 



Totals (oiii 33,252 23.588 



Totals (o)!i 33,252 23,588- 



b'igures for the years 1913 and 1917-1920 are as follows: 



1913 



Total in ton-- 36,232 



\"alue in centos 155.631 



Value in £1,000..,. 10.375 



NEW RUBBER FACTORY IN SAO PAULO 



In addition to the Companhia Brasileira de .Artefactos de Ror- 

 racha (successors to the Industria Brasileira de Borracha Ber- 

 rogain, Limitada), which has been manufacturing rubber prod- 

 ucts for some time and which soon will have a daily production 

 of 250 tires. 250 inner tubes, and 50 solid tires, Sao Paulo is also 

 to have another factory to help take advantage of Brazilian rub- 

 ber and avoid the necessity of importing so much rubber goods. 

 The new establishment is to be a stock company known as the 

 Sociedade .'\nonyma Fabrica Nacional de Artefactos de Bor- 

 racha and capitalized at 300,000 milreis. The first-named com- 

 pany is capitalized at 6,000,000 milreis. — Coiuincrcc Reports. 



TOY BALLOONS POPULAR IN ARGENTINA 



.Although toy balloons are extremely poiiular with the 

 children of Argentina, they are sold only by peddlers, no stores 

 selling them. Two large department stores have made a practice 

 of giving away toy balloons and together average 23,520 balloons 

 monthly, while on holidays when larger balloons are offered, 

 bearing the name of the store and the Spanish and Argentinean 

 flags, together with other wording, more than a thousand balloons 

 are disposed of. An exporting factory in France sends over the 

 deflated balloons which are inflated locally. The two sizes com- 

 inonly employed are 10 and 12 inches in diameter when the bal- 

 loons are fully inflated. — Commerce Reports. 



AMERICAN TIRE-REPAIR MATERIALS POPULAR IN HAVANA 



The repair shops and vulcanizers of Havana, Cuba, obtairr 

 their tire-repair materials almost exclusively from the United 

 States. Only minor repairs of tire casings are customarily 

 made, while retreading is practiced very rarely. Tire tubes, 

 however, are repaired whenever possible. 



