378 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[April 1, 1916. 



EUROPEAN TRADE NOTES 



SWITZERLAND. 



GOTTLIEB KELLER has formed a company for the whole- 

 sale distribution of rubber mechanical and surgical goods 

 at Biel, in the Canton of Berne. 



nNLAND. 



A special meeting of shareholders was recently held in 

 Helsingfors by the Suomen Gummitehdas Osakeyhtio, manu- 

 facturers of rubber footwear and general rubber goods. This 

 company's paid-in capital now amounts to 908,200 Finnish 

 marks [$174,283]. 



NOEWAY. 



The great fire which on January 15, last, devastated a large 

 section of the city of Bergen destroyed the premises of the 

 firm of Klaus Reimer, 7 Olaf Kyrresgate, wholesale and re- 

 tail dealers in packings and rubber mechanical goods. 



SWEDEN. 



The Svenska Gummifabriksaktiebolag, Gislaved, has resumed 

 its manufacturing operations which for some time were sus- 

 pended on account of the lack of crude rubber. 



The Ryska Gummifabriksaktiebolag, Malmo, which had 

 suspended its manufacturing of rubber footwear for the same 

 reason, has also been able to resume operations. 



Gustaf Janson has been made managing director of the 

 firm of F. Reddaway & Co., Stockholm, wholesale dealers in 

 belting and rubber mechanical goods. 



The Skandinaviska Gummiaktiebolag, Viskafors, w^hose rubber 

 footwear manufacturing department was burned in the latter 

 part of 1915, has purchased the machinery and rented an aban- 

 doned footwear factory in Lidkoping, and W'ill resume the manu- 

 facture of rubber footwear. 



Aktiebolaget Stockholms Gummifabrik is the name of a 

 200,000 crowns ($53,600) corporation recently organized in 

 Stockholm to manufacture rubber goods. 



HOLLAND. 



Wiese & Co., importers of crude rubber and gutta percha at 

 Rotterdam and Amsterdam, Holland, call our attention to recent 

 changes in that firm. M. J. Overeynder, who had for many years 

 power of attorney for the firm, has been admitted to the partner- 

 ship, and F. A. F. De Gruyter has been granted power of attor- 

 ney at the Amsterdam branch of the concern. 



RUSSIA. 



The Russian correspondent of The Indi.\ Rubber World, in a 

 letter published in the March, 1916, issue of this paper, stated 

 that the Russian-French India Rubber, Gutta-Percha and Tele- 

 graph Works "Prowodnik," formerly of Riga, now in Moscow, 

 had materially increased its capital. Subsequent information 

 shows that this increase amounts to 5,000,000 rubles ($2,575,000), 

 the company's capital now being 23,000,000 rubles ($11,844,000), 

 instead of 18,000,000 rubles ($9,270,000). 



JAPAN'S COMMERCE IN CRUDE RUBBER AND 

 RUBBER GOODS. 



By Our Regular Correspondent. 



THE official statistics of Japan's commerce in crude rubber 

 and manufactured rubber goods shows a very gratifying 

 increase over that of 1914. The volume of crude rubber im- 

 ported amounted to nearly 4.0(X).000 pounds, as compared with 

 less than 1,000,600 pounds the previous year, while in value 

 the increase amounted to $708,479. The official figures of the 

 imports with their sources, as compared with those of 1914, 

 are as follow's: 



19 H. 1915. 



From— Pounds. Value. Pounds, Value. 



British India 406,676 $223,637 1,114,441 $470,329 



Straits Settlements 1,646,556 678,730 2,017,176 863,593 



Dutch India 13,034 1,678 299.774 113,083 



Great Britain 224,500 159,312 352,164 196,865 



United States 11,914 8.166 98,430 58,819 



Other countries 2,582 1.786 21,565 13,109 



Total 2,305,262 $1,073,319 3,903,550 $1,715,798 



The first of the year importations were small on account of 

 the embargo placed by the British government on all crude 

 rubber exports from the British colonies. But this embargo was 

 raised early in March, when an agreement was made with the 

 Japanese government whereby it ruled that no crude rubber 

 nor manufactured rubber goods should be exported from Japan 

 to any country without the sanction of the British authorities. 

 The result was that crude rubber was directly imported in 

 April from the Straits Settlements and British India into Japan. 

 The main reason for the increased demand for crude rubber 

 was due to the heavy exports of Japanese rubber goods to 

 Russia, China, Great Britain and other countries, as well as to 

 supply the deficiency at home because of the falling ofif of im- 

 ports of rubber goods of foreign manufacture. The official 

 figures of the imports of rubber goods show this decline of 

 imports in many of the items of the following table : 

 IMPORTS OF RUBBER GOODS INTO JAPAN. 



1915. 



Pounds. Value. 



vuIcan 



Pounds. 

 Reclaimed and 



Dental rubber 

 Soft- 

 Rods and cords 105,193 



Plates and sheets 88,856 



Tubes 73,460 



Belts and beltings for ma- 

 chinery 39,432 



Thread, strips, bands, rings 



and washers 57,473 52,924 36,878 45,660 



Other soft goods 30,105 21,774 5,878 4,386 



Hard- 

 Lumps, bars or rods, plates 



and sheets 36,395 23,544 7,777 



Other hard goods 15,080 10,541 11,304 



Bicycle tires 182.226 215,950 37,348 



Insulated electric wires: 

 Armored with metals — sub- 

 marine telegraphic and 



telephonic cables 463,245 154.637 



Other armored cables 1,760,118 187,113 531,390 53,956 



Flexible cords 14,330 4,730 40 31 



Other cords 99,969 29,998 4.693 2.440 



Rubber boots (pairs) 5,699 9,576 4,434 7,270 



Overshoes (pairs) 25,343 12,488 21,500 11,454 



Beltings and hose 389,370 183,625 173,984 94,984 



Waterproof tissue 19,874 14,933 24,740 16,637 



Elastic webbing, cords and 



braids 32,178 26,592 



Insulating tapes 56,532 21,267 48,118 18,524 



44,264 55,910 22,941 



25,195 72,641 18,656 



30,525 49,004 15,120 



17,677 28,490 10,356 



52,924 



2,512 



Total $1,489,057 $610,584 



In addition to the above imports of foreign goods into Japan, 

 automobiles and parts (including tires) were imported to the 

 value of $82,633 in 1915, against $249,211 in 1914, and bicycles 

 and parts (exclusive of tires) to the value of $156,501 in 191S, 

 against $517,548 in 1914. 



It will thus be seen that the imports of rubber goods de- 

 creased 59 per cent from those of 1914, and about 77 per cent 

 from 1913 figures. This decrease is a source of congratulation 

 to Japanese manufacturers owing to their greatly enlarged trade, 

 showing that they are now producing rubber goods recognized 

 by the people of this country as equal to those of foreign make, 

 or nearly so, the exception being some special goods on which, 

 however, it is hoped they will be enabled to improve their pro- 

 duction so as to almost entirely replace those of foreign manu- 

 facture. It is a notable fact that as soon as the embargo w^as 

 raised against exporting Japanese manufactured goods to any 

 country at war with Great Britain, Japanese manufacturers took 

 advantage of the opportunity to fill orders which they already 

 had on hand for export, and immediately started to give a wider 

 scope to their foreign trade in China and other parts of Asia, 

 Russia, and also to Australia, England and the United States. 



