270 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[February I, 1919. 



The Future of the Antwerp Rubber Market. 



policy of eliminating all 



FOR four years, Antwerp, one of the world's great transit rub- 

 ber markets, has been closed and its rubber trade completely 

 wiped out. What will be its future now that the commerce 

 of this port may be resumed? 



Certainly business will return but slowly at best, for most for- 

 mer patrons have found other satisfactory sources of supply, and 

 Belgian brokers will have to 

 reestablish themselves from 

 the ground up, so to speak. 

 Lack of adequate ship tonn.me 

 will for a time be a gn.u 

 drawback. Moreover, (' >- 

 nomic forces altering '. 

 whole trend of the ru! : 

 trade have been set in moti ii 

 by the war. Direct dealing 

 between producing and con- 

 suming countries has become 

 the rule, and to a considerable 

 degree will continue. While 

 this grew out of necessity, the 

 results have shown that any 

 transit market is, in principle, 

 expensive and unnecessary, 

 and the keen foreign trade 

 competition likely to develop 

 in the near future will tend toward 

 possible overhead charges. 



In 1913 the total Belgian imports, mostly through the port of 

 Antwerp, amounted to 32,438,360 pounds, the principal sources in 

 pounds being as follows: Belgian Congo, 8,690,647; Great Brit- 

 ain, 6,676,314; Ceylon, 5,253,833; Netherlands, 2,993,538; Ger- 

 many, 2,303,611 France, 2,087,644; Straits Settlements, 1,110,817. 



Total exports for that year amounted to 24,400,770 pounds, in- 

 dicating that 

 only 8,037,590 

 pounds, or about 

 one- fourth of 

 the total imports, 

 either were re- 

 tained for use or 

 remained in 

 stock. The prin- 

 cipal destinations 

 of the exports in 

 pounds were as 

 follows : United 

 States, 6,104,316; 

 Germany, 5,944,- 

 162; Russia, 4,- 

 600,961; Nether- 

 lands, 2,586,973; 

 France, 2,327,- 

 131; Great Brit- 

 ain, 1,578,819. 



For three 

 years prior to 

 the war, Belgian 



crude rubber imports from Great Britain, Ceylon, Netherlands, 

 Germany, and Straits Settlements had shown a steady increase, 

 whereas imports from France had undergone a corresponding 

 decrease, and those from Belgian Congo in 1913 were 1,275,954 

 pounds less than in 1912. Crude rubber exports from Belgium 

 to the United States, Germany, Russia, and Netherlands for the 



Examining Rubber at the Antwerp Market. 



three years prior to the war had shown a steady increase, whereas 

 exports to Great Britain had undergone a steady decrease, and 

 those to France had maintained an approximate average. But 

 many of these tendencies seem unlikely to continue. 



The bulk of Belgian Congo rubber will doubtless go to Ant- 

 werp as in the past, but this rubber is derived chiefly from wild 

 M>urces and has been dimin- 

 i-liing rapidly. Great Britain, 

 I ( vion, and Straits Settle- 

 iiiints are successfully market- 

 in.; their rubber to consuming 

 I -niitrics and will continue to 

 do so very largely, or through 

 l-xmdon, so that Belgian im- 

 ports from these sources will 

 in future correspond more 

 nearly to the manufacturing 

 needs of the country than 

 hitherto. Germany no longer 

 lias African colonies producing 

 rubber, and with a limited 

 merchant marine following a 

 complete rubber denudation 

 will have little, if any, for re- 

 export. Moreover, German 

 interests are said to have con- 

 portion of the output of the Dutch East Indies, 

 be shipped direct or through Rotterdam, so that 

 libber will reach Belgium through the Netherlands. 



tracted for 

 doubtless to 

 little of this ru 



Germany will naturally prefer at first to deal with neutrals so 

 far as possible, and Belgium, which has been one of the chief suf- 

 ferers at the hands of the Hun, will prefer to have it so, not- 

 withstanding commercial considerations that might sway other 

 nations more remote from the tragedies of the war. This means 

 . that Belgian 

 rubber exports 

 to Germany, 

 which were more 

 than double the 

 rubber imports 

 from Germany, 

 will be relatively 

 small for some 

 years if a satis- 

 factory market 

 can be found 

 elsewhere, and it 

 probably can. 

 The United 

 States, Belgium's 

 best former cus- 

 tomer, has found 

 direct shipments 

 from the Elast so 

 satisfactory that 

 she will hardly 

 go to Belgium 

 for any consid- 

 erable quantity of rubber hereafter. Russia is still in too great a. 

 state of chaos to become an extensive early buyer, while such » 

 quantity and variety of rubber is grown under the British flagr 

 that England will have little need to resort to Belgian sources. 

 The likelihood of a resumption of former trade with France and^ 

 the Netherlands is more hopeful, however. 



Receiving Rubber at Antwerp. 



