Sei'Tembfr I. 1919.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



685 



Crude Rubber Prices. 



THE CRUDE RUBBER PRICE SITUATION. 



OF ALL THE RAW MATERIALS Consumed by modern industry, 

 crude rubber is perhaps the only important staple which 

 has not experienced an increase in price during the period 

 of the world war ; and this, in spite of the fact that the world's 

 rubber consumption had increased from 101,000 tons in 1913 to 

 approximately 230,000 tons in 1917. (See Table I.) During 

 these five years the consumption of the United States rose from 

 about 50.000 tons to 175,000 tons,'' or in other words, from 50 to 



-THE CONSUMPTION OF CRUDE RUBBER.' 

 [Long tons.] 



United 



1910 42,210 



L91i 3S,-I75 



1912 52,964 



1913 52,179 



20,455 

 1C,736 

 18,724 

 25,276 

 18,549 

 15,072 

 26,760 

 25,9S3 



France. 

 3,799 

 5,398 



■ 000 



German' 

 13,775 

 15,281 

 15,643 

 15,500 

 11,000 

 6,000 



3 oao 



2.O00 



Total. 

 82,440 

 78.581 

 95.836 

 101,455 

 99,800 

 135,214 

 169,474 

 229.017 



70 per cent oi the world's total consumption. This was almost SO 

 per cent more than we used in 1916, twice as much as in 1915, 

 and approximately three times as much as in 1914. In the same 

 period France had increased her consumption some 10,000 tons ; 

 vhile Italy in 1917 took 

 i.OOO tons more crude 



Thousands 



Tons 



J^^^n 



-The W( 



Fro 



rubber than in 1913. 



How is the falling of 

 prices during the past 

 six years compatible 

 with this vastly ex- 

 panded consumption? 

 The reply can be found 

 only in an analysis of 

 the situation in Ger- 

 many and .Russia and 

 in the figures of the 

 world's rubber produc- 

 tion. 



While the consuming 

 countries of the world 

 were talcing increasing 

 amounts of crude rub- 

 ber, the plantations of 

 the Far East were com- 

 ing into a "bearing" 

 condition. Production 

 was keeping abreast of 

 consumption, and even 

 though the amount of 

 crude rubber going into 

 the manufacture of 

 rubber products during 

 this period increased 

 127 per cent, the world's 

 Iiroduction had grown 

 l)y 147 per cent. (See 

 ra1)le II.) Thus, in 

 spite of the unprece- 

 dented rise in con- 

 sumption, a surplus of 

 20 per cent was created. 

 Germany ranked third 



1910-1918. 



Prior to the outbreak of the 

 among the world's consumers of crude rubber. Indeed, she led 

 the world in the manufacture of rubber toys, hard-rubber goods. 



ocean cable.«, and rubber packings. Germany in 1913 imported 

 as many as 15,500 tons of crude rubber, which comprised about 

 IS per cent of the world's production for that year. Shortly 

 after the outbreak of hostilities rubber was declared contraband 

 by England, and all possible pressure was exerted to prevent 

 Germany from receiving any of this material. So stringent was 

 the embargo of the Allies that the German imports were cut to 

 2,000 tons in 1917, and it is estimated that this amount had been 

 further decreased in 1918 to less than 1,(XX) tons. 



Russia in former years was also an important consumer of 

 crude rubber. In 1916 her imports amounted to over 20,000 

 tons.'' The past two years, however, have witnessed a radical 

 dechne in Russian consumption — the result, no doubt, of eco- 

 nomic disorders. In 1918 her imports were less than 2,000 tons.' 



Had the consumption of Germany and Russia continued even 

 at the pre-war rate, a rubber surplus would not, in all probability, 

 have existed, and the trend of rubber prices would no doubt 

 have been different. 



The surplus of crude rubber, it should be borne in mind, was 

 due entirely to the increased output of the plantations, which 

 grew from 47,618 tons in 1913 to 204,000 in 1917. The produc- 

 tion of Brazil remained relatively static in the interim, and that 

 of other parts of the world decreased by some 43 per cent. Until 

 1913 Brazil had led the world in the output of crude rubber, but 

 since then the production of the plantations has increased by 

 leaps and bounds, unlil in 1917 it was five times that of Brazil. 

 (See Fig. 1.) 



-THE 



JRLD PRODUCTION OF CRUDE RUBBER." 

 [Long tons.] 



1 9U(; 4 



1901 5 



1902 S 



1903 21 



1904 43 



I'.ui 145 



1906 510 



1907 LOGO 



190S 1,800 



1909 3,600 



1910 8,200 



i911 14,419 



1912 28,518 



\9\^.. '.'.'.. '.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'. 7L380 



19t5 107,867 



1916 152,650 



1917 204.348 



Ills (,estima;L-d) ... 240,000 



28,700 

 31,100 

 30,000 

 35,000 

 36.000 

 38,000 

 39,000 

 42,000 

 40,800 

 37,730 

 42.410 



36,500 

 39,370 

 38.000 



Other 

 grades. 

 27,136 

 24,545 

 23,632 

 24.829 

 32,077 

 27,000 

 29,700 

 30,000 

 24,600 

 24,000 

 21,500 

 23,000 

 28,000 

 21,452 

 12.000 

 13,615 

 12,448 

 13,258 

 12,000 



Total. 

 53,890 

 54,850 

 52,340 

 55,950 

 62.120 

 62,145 

 66,210 

 69,000 

 65,400 

 69.600 

 70,500 

 75,149 

 98,928 

 108,440 

 120.380 

 158,702 

 201,598 

 256.976 

 290,000 



31.8 

 27.0 

 27.4 

 12.8 



THE RUBBER MARKET DURING THE WAR. 



Although the price of crude rubber tended downward during 

 the past six years, several instances, nevertheless, of temporary 

 rises were experienced. Neither of the two leading types of 



Industries Board under 



' From Price Bulletin No. 30, issued by tl 

 ihe direction of Wesley C. Mitchell, 



2 This figure varies slightly from that giv 

 RULBER World, .August 1. 1919, paje 614). . _ . ._ _ 



of the United States is given as 157,000 tons. This discrepancy is to be 

 explained by the difference which exists in the compilations of the United 

 States Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce as compared with those 

 of the Rubber Association of .'\merica. The latter organization differen- 

 tiates between the various types of rubber imported, and for purposes of 

 weighing it was necessary to use their figures as given in the above-men- 

 tioned table. The figures of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Com- 

 merce represent all crude india rubber and are used in Table I of this 

 article. 



^ This includes 

 with the exception 



which decreased from 25.000' tons in 1916 to 7,000 tons in 1918. Data 

 from Memorandum on the Rubber Industry, op. cit., page 7. 



*The India Rubber World, March, 1919, page 333. 



° Sec footnote No. 3. nbove. 



'Data from CrMi.nn.litv Bidlctin No. I. Series VIII, Division of Plan- 

 ning and Statistics, W.ir Industries Board. 



tisumption 



