THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[January 1, 1919. 



Spanish Market for Rubber Goods. 



special Correspondence. 



SPAIN to-day looms up to the American rubber manufacturers 

 as virgin ground for the sale of their products. Before the 

 war 90 per cent of the rubber goods used in Spain were 

 furnished by the Continental-Caoutchouc & Gutta Percha Co., 

 Hanover, Germany; the Prowodnik Rubber Co., Riga, Russia; 

 Michelin & Co., Clermont-Ferrand, France; Pirelli & Co., Milan, 

 Italy, and the Dunlop Rubber Co., Limited, Birmingham, Eng- 

 land, and it is safe to say that of the above companies the Con- 

 tinental-Caoutchouc & Gutta Percha Co. of Germany furnished 

 the largest percentage of goods. 



Now it will be some time before Germany will be a strong 

 competitor in the manufacture of rubber goods, since nearly all 

 lier rubber factories have been stripped and dismantled for war 

 purposes, and, moreover, Germany has practically no crude rubber 

 on hand. During the war she paid unheard-of prices for contra- 

 band rubber, which was smuggled into the country by her sub- 

 marines, and now that the 

 ■war is over the crude rub- 

 ber needs of the other 

 countries will be first con- 

 sidered in order to replen- 

 ish their home require- 

 ments for rubber goods. 

 The United States should 

 avail herself at once of 

 the opportunity to put not 

 only rubber but every 

 product into Spain by 

 means of able representa- 

 tives and good manage- 

 ment. 



Spain to-day is prac- 

 tically clean of rubber 

 goods and only those of 

 inferior make are obtain- 

 able and then at very high 

 prices. The classes of rub- 

 ber goods most needed at 



the present time are pneumatic and solid tires, druggists' sundries, 

 hose, packing and a full line of footwear, as well as soles and 

 heels. 



There is no doubt that American goods if properly pushed 

 will forge ahead, and Spain will become one of our largest rub- 

 ber goods consumers, and the same can be said of all South 

 American countries that were formerly supplied for the greater 

 part by Europe. 



It should be understood that, although Germany has sent no 

 rubber goods into Spain since the war started, she kept her or- 

 ganizations in Spain at work compiling statistics on the rubber 

 trade, and the Germans know the situation better to-day than we 

 do ourselves. One good point to consider is that some of our 

 products would have to be changed to a certain degree, such, for 

 example, as solid tires, as the road conditions of Spain are very 

 bad and the foreign rubber companies' engineers have made a 

 study of these and supply a solid tire to meet the unusual con- 

 ditions. 



Although there is at the present time a large factory being 

 installed in Spain, practically all of the crude materials must be 

 obtained from abroad and it will be some time before the Spanish 

 labor will become proficient enough to compete with our skilled 

 workmen, therefore "Made in the United States" on any product 

 in Spain to-day is a decided advantage. 



In this connection it is interesting to note that the Neumaticos 

 Nacional Sociedad Anonima (National Pneumatic Co.). Bar- 



celona, Spain, will add a full line of solid-tire and boot and shoe 

 equipment to that already installed. Although this company was 

 linanced entirely by Spanish capital, the factory is supplied 

 throughout with American equipment, installed according to 

 .American practice, therefore the products will be like those made 

 in the United States. 



The entire installation and construction of the factory were 

 achieved with Spanish labor that had never seen rubber ma- 

 chinery, and while the Spanish laborers are not as expert as 

 Americans they are steady and willing. Great hardships were 

 encountered in procuring pipe, pipe fittings, valves and all 

 such material, as Spain imports all supplies of this nature 

 from other countries and on account of the war it was almost 

 impossible to obtain the necessary supplies to work with. 

 For instance, two-inch pressure pipe was selling for $5 a 

 yard and all valves had to be cast and made specially to order, 

 .costing five times what 

 they would cost in nor- 

 mal times. 



French rubber experts 

 who have visited the fac- 

 tory and examined all 

 t'e American equipment 

 V ' ry closely, say it is one 

 : I he best-equipped and 

 ^t up-to-date rubber 

 i'>ries in Europe. 

 1 liis will be the first 

 rubber mill in Spain to 

 manufacture all kinds of 

 rubber goods, there be- 

 ing at this time only a 

 few very small factories 

 making specialties. 



The factory is 1,000 by 

 500 feet, built on the one- 

 story plan, and so con- 

 structed that additional 

 units can be added whenever needed. It is situated on the Cor- 

 dona river, SO miles north of Barcelona, so that water power 

 will be used to generate the electricity necessarj' in operating 

 the plant. 



STRUCriON. 



THE FAR EASTERN RUBBER CRISIS. 



"T^HE rubber situation in the Straits Settlements and Federated 

 ■'• Malay States, together with the report of the recently ap- 

 pointed rubber commission, as published in the "Straits Budget," 

 is briefly as follows : 



For a while restriction of output had been considered, but then 

 came the recognition of the fact.that such restriction without ac- 

 companying increase of price would render the producer's posi- 

 tion worse, not better. So thought was given to the rate of de- 

 pletion of pre-restriction stocks and the balance between re- 

 stricted production and restricted consumption. 



PRICE COITTEOL. 



The commission considers that as artificial restriction of rubber 

 consumption is being met by artificial restriction of production, 

 there must be price control, three courses seeming to be open. 

 The first is control of price by prohibiting export of rubber sold 

 at less than a minimum price, the second is an imperial monopoly 

 in rubber under the control of a rubber trust, the third is control 

 of price by government buying at a minimum price. 



