March 1, 1919.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



333 



THE WORLD'S PRODUCTION. 



The world's production of crude rubber of all grades for the 

 year 1918 is estimated by authorities at about 257,000 tons. The 

 amount would have been much greater but for curtailed produc- 

 tion made necessary by the continued diversion of ship tonnage 

 from normal business to war transport. The following table 

 shows the total production of crude rubber for the last three 

 years : 



1918. 1917. 1916. 



Ceylon and India tons 23.000 25,000 24,500 



Malaya, Dutch East India, etc 190,600 165.000 105,500 



Amazonas (Brazil, Bolivia) '6,000 31.771 28,255 



Peruvian and Caucho 8,400 9,729 8,245 



West Coast. Africa 1 



Benguela and .Mossatiiedes > 3.J0O 3,000 2,000 



Loanda J 



Congo, French Congo and Soudan 3.200 3,500 5,000 



from other sources 2,600 2,500 ' 4,500 



257,000 240,5001 178,000i 



lUnderestimated. 



The production of South American rubber was considerably 

 decreased. Bolivia sent less ; Mollendo and Venezuela via the 

 Orinoco, none ; Ceara, Manitoba, Pernambuco, Assare, Manga- 

 beira, very little ; Mattogrosso, much less. Central America, in- 

 cluding Nicaragua, Colombia and Ecuador, exported very little 

 rubber : Mexico almost nothing, other than guayule rubber. De- 

 creased amounts have been received from the West Coast of 

 Africa especially Congo and Soudan, but good qualities sold well 

 from the Niger, Gold Coast, Accra, etc., Cameroons, Sierra 

 Leone, Gaboon, Conakry, French Congo and Soudan. Exports 

 of lump have been much less. Very little rubber came from 

 East Africa, Madagascar and Abyssinia. British and former Ger- 

 man East Africa sent very little Manihot rubber; Zanzibar, 

 scarcely any red rubber ; Nyassaland and New Guinea, none. 

 Penang reduced its supply of wild rubber, also Rangoon and 

 Assam. Java, Sumatra and Borneo exported much less Ram- 

 bong rubber but more Hevca, Amounts coming from Toulsin 

 and Cochin China were very small. 



The following table shows the annual receipts and shipments 

 at Para for the last three years : 



1918. 1917. 1916. 



Receipts of Pari tons 23,000 29,759 28,260 



Receipts of Peruvian 8,600 9,591 8.245 



Shipments of Para ard Peruvian to Europe 6,035 14.320 12,045 



Shipments of Para and Peruvian to America 19.350 25,950 22,185 



PLANTATION RUBBER. 



Owing to increased production capacity of plantations and cur- 

 tailed consumption of crude rubber resulting from the war, also 

 because of labor shortages and the high cost of estate opera- 

 tions, less than 100,000 planted acres were added to the total 

 during 1918. All of the principal plantation rubber countries 

 of the Middle East have made some progress, with the exception 

 of the former German colonies, where, largely through neglect, 

 the effective acreage has decreased to two-thirds of what it was 

 in 1916. 



Plantations, chiefly of Castilloa, in Mexico, West Indies and 

 Central and South America have shown no progress and the 

 yields have been insignificant. The same is true of Ceara planta- 

 tions in East Africa. Plantations in India, Burma and the 

 Mergui are being extended. 



The approximate plantation acreages for three years past 

 follow : 



1918. 1917. 1916. 



Ceylon arrcs 300,000 290,000 230,000 



Malaya, Malacca 800,000 780,000 600,000 



Borneo 50,000 40,000 30,000 



Dutch East Indies, Java, Sumatra, etc.. 700,000 650,000 500,000 



India and Burma 55,000 50,000 40,000 



Former German colonies, Samoa, East 



and West Africa 8,000 10,000 12,000 



Totnls 1,913,000 1,820,000 1,412.000 



DISTRIBUTION. 

 The consumption of crude rubber of the various grades, ex- 

 clusive of large quantities of reclaimed rubber, has been esti- 

 mated as follows : 



1918. 1917. 1916. 



England toi:s 24,000 26,000 25,000 



Germany, Austria, etc 1,000 1,000 1500 



I;''an« ■ 14,000 10,000 8,500 



Russia .... . 2,000 7,000 20.000 



Italy, Spain, Sc.ind^navia, etc 5,000 5,500 4.000 



Japan and Australia 5,000 5,000 5,000 



.America and Canada 187,000 155,000 114.000 



Totals 238,000 210,000= 178,000" 



-Underestimated. 



Abnormal war-time influences have in many instances upset 

 former distribution tendencies. Conservation of ship tonnage 

 for war purposes reduced rubber consumption in England con- 

 siderably and in Italy a little, while the rationing of neutrals by 

 the Allies to prevent assistance to the enemy curtailed imports 

 by Spain and the Scandinavian countries somewhat. The Cen- 

 tral Powers found no way to increase their supply, and the 

 Japanese and Australian demand has remained very nearly sta- 

 tionary. Continued chaotic conditions in Russia have reduced 

 the consumption of rubber to one-tenth what it was in 1916. 

 The big increases of the year have been in France and the 

 United States; in the former almost entirely for war material, 

 but in the latter partly because of wider use of rubber goods, 

 especially pneumatic tires, by the entire population. 



Note.— Much of the information contained in the above review was 

 supplied by S. Figgis & Co., London. 



iND 



Statistics of the expoits of rubber fiom the Federated Malay States and 

 the Straits Settlements are now available to the general public. The of- 

 ficial figures given below show that there was a falling off in the exports 

 fcr the past year when compared with 1917, due, of course, to the lack of 

 transport and the restrictions imposed upon imports by the United States 

 government. Many of the rubber companies in Malaya adopted a policy of 

 voluntary restriction of tapping; but there was at the end of the year a 

 considerable amount of rubber stored at Singapore which will come into 

 the present year's statistics when freer shipping facilities permit of its 



1917. 



To Holland *i7(>i 



England 101,000 



United States 1,170,000 



Singapore 226,000 



Other countries 5,000 



Totals 1,502,000 



From Batavia 940,000 



Samarang 4,000 



Soerabaya 557,000 



Other ports 1,000 



Totals 1.502,000 



1918. 1917. 1918. 

 2,192,000 1,659,000 



12,371,000 4.781,000 



127,000 1,318,000 6,718,000 



296:000| 25.000 1,710,000 



656,000 15,906,000 14,868,000 



332,000 9,284.000 7,839,000 



5,000 192.000 130.000 



319.000 6.191,000 6,668,000 



239,000 

 15,906.000 



231,000 

 14,868,000 



