96 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[NOVE.N 



United States Commerce in Crude Rubber for Calendar Year 1918. 



THE DECISION OF THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT TO MAKE OUT ITS 

 annual returns according to the calendar year, from January 

 to December inclusive, instead of the fiscal year, from June 

 30 to June 30, which had been the rule for many years, will make 

 statistical comparisons and the inferences drawn from them 

 liable to some degree of inaccuracy. In the returns for the cal- 

 endar year 1918, the figures for the first six months ended 

 June 30, have already been used for the returns of the fiscal year 

 1917-1918, so that in using the figures it must be remembered 

 that for six months they are identical in both annual reports. 

 CRUDE RUBBER IMPORTS. 

 For the calendar year 1918 the imports of crude rubber were 

 325,959,308 pounds, a falling off of over 60,000,000 pounds from 

 1917-1918, which was a record year for rubber importation. The 

 value of the rubber was $146,378,313, nearly $60,000,000 less than 

 in 1917-18. From the Far East, now the main source of rubber, 

 the United States imported in 1918, 268,710,068 pounds, valued 

 at $125,005,308, as against 312,322,887, valued at $169,086,900 in 

 1917-18. From the Straits Settlements came 198,904,100 pounds 

 compared with 221,389,870 pounds, from British India 9,248,210 

 pounds, from the other British possessions 19,543,495 pounds, 

 from Hong Kong 562,717 pounds, and from the Dutch East Indies 

 37,344.813 pounds as compared with the 53,663,857 pounds for 

 1917-18. From the French possessions came 15,680 pounds, from 

 China 559,658 pounds, as against 11,763 pounds, and from Japan 

 a like notable increase, 2,529,395 pounds as against 61,160 pounds 

 in 1917-18. It is interesting to note that the Philippines sent 

 666,012 pounds in 1918 and only 80,644 in 1917-18. 



The second source of rubber is South America. Brazil sent 

 40,332,620 pounds, value $13,378,588, in 1918, and 41,277,914 

 pounds, value $14,307,158, in 1917-18; Peru sent 1,373,751; Col- 

 ombia, 884,792; Argentina, 390,734; Equador, 244,521; Venezuela, 

 158,857, and British and Dutch Guiana, 53,477 pounds, in each 

 case a marked falling off. The imports from Bolivia were 474,781 

 pounds in 1918. 



Third among the producers was Mexico, the imports being 

 2,185,809 pounds compared to 1,033,087 pounds for 1917-18. The 

 imports from Panama were 164,445 pounds, from Nicaragua 

 158,140 pounds, from the other Central American states 64,489 

 pounds. From the West Indies came 51,680 pounds, as against 

 69,352 in the previous period. Cuba sent 4,390 pounds. The im- 

 ports from Africa increased slightly in 1918; from British pos- 

 sessions came 76,264 pounds instead of 28,454 pounds, and from 

 Portuguese posessions 22,622 pounds instead of 38,414. 



The other countries produce no rubber but act as middlemen 

 for their own possessions and others. From Great Britain, the 

 United States imported 6,627,165 pounds in the calendar year'l918 

 and 21.926,943 pounds in the 1917-1918 period; from Portugal 

 came 424,424 pounds in 1918; from France 160,318 pounds, and 

 from Canada 2,712,336 pounds, compared with 4,247,287 pounds 

 for 1917-18. 



IMPORTS BY CUSTOMS DISTRICT. 

 There was some shifting in the amounts received by the various 

 customs districts: New York with 119,664,398 pounds value 

 $49,381,919, in 1918, showed a marked falling off from the 

 171,643,218 pounds and the $83,365,120 of 1917-18. Washington, 

 which means Seattle and Tacoma, received 109,557,617 pounds, 

 value $51,099,147, a slightly higher price than the New York 

 rubber; San Francisco received 53,063,123 pounds worth $28,445,- 

 675, as against 80,907,215, a distinct decline in quantity; Buffalo 

 fell to 693,490 pounds, Michigan to 336,194 pounds. Southern 

 California to 78,345 pounds. New Orleans to 10,650 pounds. 

 On the other hand, Ohio rose to 19,157,829 pounds as compared 



with 12.944,474; Massachusetts to 10,222,733 pounds, compared 

 with 4,327,090 pounds; Dakota to 6,008,636, compared with. 

 3,471,093; Vermont 4,095,971 pounds, compared with 3,471,093; 

 San Antonio 808,372 pounds, compared with 33,193 pounds, and 

 Chicago 1,297,791 pounds, compared with 809,095. Philadelphia's 

 31,480 pounds and St. Lawrence's 487,934 pounds are also in- 

 creases. Omaha with 48,445 pounds and Pittsburgh with 96,732: 

 pounds, are added to the list this year while Florida is left out. 

 The figures show the distribution of the rubber according to the 

 official ports of entry; they throw little light on the statistics of 

 the ports where the crude rubber was actually landed. 



CRUDE RUBBER EXPORTS. 



Crude rubber was exported from the United States in 1918 to- 

 the amount of 6,150,755 pounds, value $3,133,622. Of this, 

 5,568,816 pounds went to Canada, 227,125 pounds to Austraha, 

 229,790 pounds to Cuba, and 123,395 pounds to England. The 

 amount reexported in 1917-18 was 8,208,280 pounds, and in the 

 year before, 12,355,898 pounds. 



GUTTA PERCHA. 



Gutta percha was imported into the United States during 1918 

 to the amount of 1,207,986 pounds, value $225,922 ; of this, 354,794 

 pounds came from the British East Indies, 306,241 pounds from 

 the Dutch East Indies, and 524,160 pounds from British Africa. 

 The amount imported in 1917-18 was 1,151,312 pounds. This year 

 470,478 pounds came in at New York, 501,760 pounds at New 

 Orleans, 228,696 at the Washington ports, and the remnant at 

 San Francisco. To England, too, went 126,731 pounds of crude 

 gutta percha. 



GUAYULE. 



Guayule amounting to 1,376,085 pounds, worth $413,484, came 

 into the United States in 1918, 1,371,385 pounds from Mexico, 

 the rest from Colombia. Almost all, 1,323,435 pounds, entered 

 at San Antonio, Texas ; 47,950 pounds at El Paso ; 4,700 pounds 

 at New York ; 9,778 pounds of this was reexported to Canada, 

 In 1917-18 the imports of guayule were 4,307,539 pounds. 

 BALATA. 



The imports of balata in 1918 were 1,547,338 pounds, value 

 $836,383, as compared with the 2,449,881 pounds and $1,278,610 

 of 1917-1918 and the 3,287,445 pounds and $1,649,452 of 1916-17, 

 a steady decline. It all came to New York; 535,065 pounds from 

 Panama, 316,520 pounds from Colombia, 260,491 pounds from 

 Venezuela, 218,868 pounds from British Guiana, 120,078 pounds 

 from Dutch Guiana, 32,814 pounds from the Dutch West Indies, 

 53,883 pounds from Trinidad and Tobago, 7,619 pounds from 

 Brazil, and 2,000 pounds from Equador. Exports were : 652,902 

 pounds to Great Britain, 9,639 pounds to Canada. 43,644 pounds 

 to Japan, and 5,000 pounds to Greece. In all, 706,185 pounds, 

 worth $436,252, were reexported. 



RUBBER SCRAP. 



The imports of rubber scrap in 1918 were 8,526,420 pounds, 

 value $645,581. The United Kingdom contributed 4,741,202 

 pounds, Canada 1,390,235 pounds, Newfoundland and Labrador 

 64,205 pounds, New Zealand 83,345 pounds, Australia 10,000 

 pounds, France 780,347 pounds, Italy 242,376 pounds, Cuba 

 585,435 pounds, and Brazil 473,196 pounds. 



RECLAIMED RUBBER. 



Reclaimed rubber amounting to 2,904,234 pounds, value $502,176, 

 was exported in turn. In 1917-18 the figures were 3,284,953 and 

 $567,278; this year's figures are the lowest for both amount and 

 value, since 1904 at least. 



JELUTONG (PONTIANAK). 



Free jelutong to the amount of 9,932,476 pounds, value $678,916, 

 was imported in 1918, of which 6,807,262 pounds came from the 



