206 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[January 1. 1915. 



Some Interesting Letters From Our Readers. 



PROPOSAL 



FOR A DISTRIBUTING AGENCY FOR 

 PARA RUBBER. 



fli ' tier is now in New York. He 



■"' ■'■- ' »ioi ojtnected with large rubber export 



inter< \ra. He writes this letter to stimulate the interest 



of American rubber manufacturers in the prospect o\ securing 

 their rubber direct. 



"Rubbei i- ar present imported to the United States in the fol 

 lowing three ways : 1— Bought by contract directly from the few 

 dealer., (J. Marques, Pires ["eixeira & Co., Pralow & Co., 

 Ferreira d'Oliveira & Sobrinho). 2— Sent by merchants on con- 

 signment (dealers and a few aviadores). 3— Sent in agents of 

 American theii head i iffices. 



"In the first case the American merchant sends a letter of 



credit which enables the Amazonian dealer to draw the amount 



of the invoice. In the second case the merchant draws a certain 



'"Tally 80 per cent. In the third ease the agents 



have at their disposition certain funds to buy rubber there. 



"The a iaa -the producer's representatives — daily receive 



nil. her winch they sell at the market price of the day as it is 

 set bj the dealers. This price, of course, is the consequence of 

 the speculation of the dealer in selling the rubber before he 

 lias as yet received it (forward selling). The Xew York and 

 London markets do not influence Amazonian rubber trade as 

 they ought to. Thus the price offered there is often lower than 

 it is here, and vice-versa. The aviador knows nothing of the 

 speculation, and is often obliged to sell the rubber at lower 

 prices than he could get by selling it directlj to this market. 

 The reason for this is that he ignores the calculations, which are 

 verj complicated and involve the daily changes of duty, freight, 

 exchange, shrinkage and expenses here and there. This natu- 

 rally requires a special study. 



"My proposition is based upon this: We should deal directly 

 with the aviad res, instructing them as to the proper calcula- 

 tions and furnishing them with adequate Portuguese codes 

 through which they will lie able to accept our offers. Instead of 

 his selling to the dealers in Para be will be able to sell his 

 rubber to the manufacturers through our medium. In fact a 



few g ! standing firms from Para which are receiving many 



thousand- oi kilos of rubber monthly have authorized me to 

 make this proposition 



"Of the 10.000 ■ ns of rubber or 88,200,000 pounds which is 

 the yearly Am.' utput, more or less, the United States 



buys, according to the statistics, about 50 per cent., or say, 44,- 

 100,000 pounds of rubber. Let us .isstime that the avaidores 

 will sell 10 of this quantity through our medium. We 



will then have 4,410,000 pounds of rubber sold, of different 

 grades. 



"The actual price is: Hard fine. 72c; Soft fine, 65c . Caucho, 

 54c; Upriver coarse, 53c; Island coarse. 32c; Cameta coarse, 

 34c. The average, being 50c. per pound, will make our sales 

 amount to $2,205,000 per year. Taking into consideration that 

 we make 1.5 per cent., half of the Para dealer's profit, and 0.5 per 

 cent, on the Xew York brokerage, which is 1 per cent., we will 

 be able to make at least 2 per cent, on the $2,205,000. which 

 • -•'4,000. 



"The aviadoi is furnished only with a letter of credit stipulating 

 the condit thi correel weight, quality and amount, 



against which, after the shipment has been made, he draws at 

 90 days N'o capital, consequently, i- required for this transac- 

 tion I r's note when buying is the guarantee for 

 the producer's letter of credit. In other words, the bank will 

 issue edit against the security of the buyer's note. 



Sound and reliable firms, of course, are contemplated. Other- 

 wise they would not be able to negotiate their drafts." 



OPENING FOR AMERICAN RUBBER GOODS IN 

 LONDON. 



'T'Hli follozving is from a London letter, written by a man 

 ■* who has in the past been a solid tire agent but whose source 

 upply is eitt off on account of the war: 



"I do not propose to enlarge upon the complete cessation of 

 business between my country and Germany owing to the war, ex- 

 cept to say that a magnificent opportunity now presents itself 

 for securing some of the very large business German houses 

 were doing in England in solid and pneumatic tires. I believe 

 they secured 60 per cent, of the trade and their preparations for 

 1915 were very extensive. 



"The salient points for securing British trade are: 



"(1) Observance of English mileage guarantees to 10.000 or 

 12,000 miles. 



"(2) Working to English measurements for standard sets. 

 These are now of course rendered principally in millimetres. 



"(3) Holding an adequate stock in London. 



"Competition is of course very keen, which inevitably tends 

 to reduce prices, but a high quality is demanded and the neces- 

 sary price for such should not be a difficult matter if backed up 

 with an efficient publicity campaign. 



"Prices ruling today are round about £40 to £44 [$19.45 to 

 $21.39] for a set of 6— two 920x120 and four 1,000x100— and £52 

 to £55 [25.30 to $26.77] for two 880x120 and four 1,010x120, 

 and so on ; manufacturers paying the cost of fitting, which 

 amounts to about 30s. [$7.30] per set. 



"I am merely giving these figures in order that if the proposal 

 interests any of your manufacturers they may have some data 

 upon which to figure out the success of a proposed attempt. 



"Then there are the other branches of the rubber trade, such 

 as mechanicals, hose, surgical goods — all of which are in great 

 demand." 



FROM HAMBURG. 



A X important German rubber firm writes us under date of 

 *™ Dei ember 8: 



"In the first half of the year business was not bad. without 

 deserving to be called good. An extensive over-speculation in 

 sites and buildings had caused this branch of economic life to 

 suffer acutely, and had damped the spirit of enterprise. This 

 fad to a certain extent affected other branches of industry. 



"The war has naturally caused a great revolution in business 

 life ; but as the fighting is going on in the enemies' countries, a 

 feeling of confidence prevails in all circles. The degree in which 

 German industry is occupied varies considerably. All factories 

 having directly or indirectly to do with deliveries for the army 

 or navy are fully engaged and working in many cases with an 

 increased force day and night. Those factories, however, which 

 make objects of luxury and those principally devoted to export 

 trade have had to limit their operations, but only in isolated 

 cases ha- there been a complete stoppage of the plant. 



"Moreover, the German rubber industry is now heavily engaged 

 in war supplies, thousands of power vehicles being occupied for 

 the army and having extensive requirements in pneumatic tires. 

 Countless large and small articles in soft and hard rubber are 

 wanted for ships, engineering troops' appliances and hospital 

 purposes, out even in our industry the want of export orders 

 is noticeable, the situation being accentuated by the export pro- 



