548 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[June 1, 1917. 



Rubber Planting Notes. 



RUBBER IN BORNEO, 



EIGHTEEN leading companies, with a total anthorized capi- 

 tal of i2,250,000 and subscribed capital and loans amounting 

 to i2, 11 1,000, are at present operating in the British North 

 Borneo Co.'s territory. Two large tobacco companies have also 

 planted 1,000 acres of rubber while several Chinese and Japanese 

 own considerable properties. 



The Mycologist and Director of Agriculture reports that the 

 area under rubber in British North Borneo is 29.827 acres, not 

 including estates of less than 100 acres. The area in full 

 tapping is 9,806 acres, but 570,000 trees are being tapped over 

 areas not yet in full tapping, equivalent to 4,400 acres at the 

 rate of 130 trees per acre. The total area under tapping is, 

 therefore, appro.ximately 14,000 acres. At the end of 1915, 9,636 

 laborers were employed on the estates, as follows : 4,065 Chi- 

 nese, 3.521 Javanese and 2.050 other races, chiefly natives of 

 Borneo. The export of plantation rubber in 1915 amounted to 

 1,050 tons, against 613 tons in 1914. 



The land concessions of the principal companies are prac- 

 tically freehold — 999 years' lease, free of quit rent or cultivation 

 clause of any kind. The government has undertaken not to 

 impose an export duty on plantation rubber for the ne.xt 40 years. 



Three rubber companies are operating in the British protector- 

 ate of Brunai, while in the Sarawak territory the Sarawak Rub- 

 ber Estates, Limited, has issued capital of £200,000 and a planted 

 area of 3,545 acres, which yielded 420,212 pounds of rubber in 

 1915. The estimate for 1916 is 565,339 pounds. Besides these 

 companies, there is also one in Lawas. 



In Dutch Borneo the four principal companies have a com- 

 bined issued capital of £359,615, and a planted area of 4,593 

 acres under Hcvca. and 1,865 acres under Ficus. In the south- 

 east of the island, the Hayoep Rubber Estates' production in 

 1915 was 346,681 pounds of rubber, at a cost of \s. Ayid. per 

 pound, and a dividend of 10 per cent was paid. The estimated 

 crop for 1916 is 451,000 pounds. 



COSTS AND YIELDS OF PARA IN UGANDA. 



G. Brown, F. L. S., of the Kivuvu estate, Uganda, submits 

 some interesting details concerning the yields and costs of Para 

 rubber on his and several other plantations. 



Tapping at Kivuvu commenced in 1914 with 6,000 trees and 

 was conducted over a period of 7 months. The following year 

 the number of trees was increased by 4.000, and in 1916 by 2,000 

 more, bringing the total to 12.000. The methods followed were 

 the basal V and alternate day tapping on one-quarter section of 

 the tree only. For the last two years, operations extended over 

 9 to 10 months. The average yields per tree of dry rubber were : 



Ounces. 



1914 S 



1915 11'/ 



1916 22!4 



The total yields of dry rubber in 1915 and 1916 were 7,125 pounds 

 and 16,700 pounds, respectively. 



Reports in 1915 from the Government Farm at Kakumiro and 

 at Entebbe Botanic Gardens show that on the former the yield 

 per tapping on the half-herring-bone system was 0.13 ounce 

 and 0.1 ounce on the basal V method. 



At Entebbe Gardens 535 trees yielded 1,132 pounds, or an 

 average of 2,13 pounds per tree. Tapping here was very irregu- 

 lar, only 60 trees being tapped in some months. 



The cost of production at Kivuvu has diminished year by year, 

 just as the crop has increased, so that the comparative costs per 

 pound of rubber over the three years work out as follows 

 (values being stated in United States currency) : 



1914. 1915. 1916. 



^ « ^ 



Upkeep of area cciils 8,6 3.9 2.7 



Tapping 6.3 5,1 3.7 



Curing and packing 1.5 1.3 1.4 



Upkeep of tools 0.3 0,3 0.3 



Treight Kla to London 3.5 4.5 4.5 



Management 2.0 2.0 2.0 



Landed in London 22.2 17,1 14.6 



Market and selling charges 3.0 3.0 3,0 



Cost to place in hands of puichaser. , , , 25,2 20.1 17.6 



It is interesting to compare the 1915 cost and sale prices of 

 rubber from Kivuvu with those for Malayan rubber of the same 

 year. 



Production Cost per pound Sold in 



Estate, (in pounds) in cents. London. 



Kivuvu, Uganda..., 7,125 17.1 (to London) 52.6 



Kamuning, Perak 668,227 21.5 (on plantation) 53.5 



Singapore, Para 359.725 30,0 (f. o. b.) 52.9 



Tremelbye, Selangor 543.356 25.0 (f. o. b,) 52.7 



From these figures, it will be seen that the cost of production 

 at Kivuvu was less than on any of the three Malayan estates, a 

 fact ail the more striking since the crop from the former was 

 so very small in comparison with that from the latter, while the 

 prices obtained do not differ greatly for the four estates. 



It is estimated that an acre, planted with 108 trees, may be 

 safely capitalized at £20. The time it takes a rubber estate to 

 become remunerative may be judged by the Magigye estate. In 

 1911 a certain area was planted, with one-year-old seedlings. In 

 1916, 50 per cent of these were ready for tapping and gave an 

 average yield of 6J4 ounces per tree, w-hich put that area on a 

 remunerative basis. 



On the whole, it would appear that the prospects for rubber 

 cultivation in Uganda are very favorable. Kivuvu, for instance, 

 gave profits of 16 per cent in 1914; 25 per cent in 1915, and 54 

 per cent in 1916. 



CEYLON RUBBER EXPORTS. 1916, 



The report of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce for the half 

 year ended December 31, 1916, gives the total exports (5f rubber 

 from Ceylon for the year 1916 as 54,698,729 pounds at an average 

 price of 1.79 rupees, against 46,566,187 pounds at an average of 

 1.65 rupees in 1915. 



The distribution for 1915 and 1916 was as follows: 



1916, 1915. 



L'nited Kingdom pounds 23,812,305 25,183,748 



United Stales 27,249.589 18,607,691 



Canada and Newfoundland 6,720 392,495 



Australia 797,091 964,697 



France 1,802,217 698,992 



Russia 293,674 332,200 



Italy 347.632 



Other countries 389,501 386,364 



Totals 54,698,729 46,566,187 



It will be noticed that during 1916 the United States became 

 Ceylon's biggest customer, and that French and Italian pur- 

 chases were greatly increased. Canadian consumption almost 

 ceased. Average prices fluctuated from 2,78 rupees per pound 

 early in January to 1.34 in August and up to 1.79 late in 

 December. 



PLANTATION RUBBER IN CEYLON. 



According to the latest reports from Ceylon, the area devoted 

 to the cultivation of rubber is 251,000 acres, an increase of 

 10,500 acres over 1915. The rubber industry in Ceylon has 

 advanced by leaps and bounds. In 1905 the area under Hevea 

 was 40,000 acres ; one short year later this had expanded to 

 104,000 acres ; now, within ten years, these figures have more 

 than doubled, and show that over one-third of the total culti- 



