February 1, 1915. 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



305 



CONSUMPTION OF INDIA RUBBER BY IN SI VTES AND CANADA UN TONS). 



[From the \nnua! Statistical Sunn i i \i i 



I'ii mls— 1 1902. 1903. 1904. 1905. I 10! HO. 1911. 1 y 1 _> . 1913. 1914. 



Imports to United States 23,20 11.842 60 i I 9,47; I I 1,916 35,088 50,051 48,724 59,876 



i Liverpool and Continent 680 430 490 274 357 1,6 1,340 823 430 955 



I. ii 24,270 27,349 0,448 31.576 34,265 49,621 48,426 58,921 



VI, 1 Stock on Januarj 1 1,198 1,399 331 256 305 537 606 1,553 1,332 523 636 605 395 



6 !2,81J 14,601 27,605 603 32,001 . TK8 50,257 49.031 59,316 



Less Sink close of yeai 1,399 331 256 305 537 365 606 1. 523 636 605 395 141 



ii.i,., i. to Manufacturers (Rubber). . 22. .127 22.4SO 24.345 27,300 1,046 050 30,669 32.385 34,152 49,652 48,636 59,175 



Deliverii to Manufacturers (Guayule) !,992 3,850 8,674 10,656 8,091 6,105 2.756 850 



I, Ml Rubber and Guayule 31,626 31.900 39,343 43,041 42,243 55,757 51,392 60,025 



LONDON VIEW OF THE 1914 MARKET. 



DURING the year just closed plantation grades have again 

 occupied the predominant place in the world's rubber mar- 

 kets and with contributions calculated at about 65,000 tuns to a 

 world's output computed at about 115,500 tons, have therefore 

 supplied .i verj large proportion of the demand. 



I he progress of this increase for seven successive years, from. 

 1908 to 1914 inclusive, as shown in the exports of plantation rub- 

 in i from the sources of production appears in t lie following fig- 

 ures, for which we are indebted to the annual market reviews 



published by S. Figgis & Co., Gow 



and Hale & Sons, all of London: 



Wilson & Stanton, Limited, 



64,500 48.030 28,500 14.150 8,230 3,850 1.800 



To the above there are to be added some direct shipments of 

 plantation rubber made from the Dutch East Indies. During the 

 year l l >14, according to the same report, there were shipped from 

 Amazonas and Brazil 37,000 tons, from West Africa 8.500 tons 

 and from various other sources 4.500 tons. The exports from 

 Brazil for the past five years have been, in tons, as follows: 

 1914, 37,000; 1913. 39.000: 1912, 40.500: 1911, 39,500; 1910. 40.500. 



While the sabs of plantation rubber, according to figures above 



given, have been steadily mowing for the past few years, fluctua- 

 tions m price in the London market were more limited in extent 

 last year than during the preceding twelve months. The range 

 was from Is. 1 1 ' ..</. to 3s for standard crepe, whereas in 1913, 

 while the minimum was the same, the highest price reached was 

 4j. <>i _,,/. Prices ii.i sheet ruled about %d. higher. It was during 

 the latter part of April that a temporary shortage in the supply 

 resulted in the high figures above quoted. But after this a steady 

 decline set in. due 1,. unfavorable political and financial Condi 

 tions. to which must be added the effects of a widespread strike 

 m Russian rubber goods factories; and this led to the low price 

 cpioted being reached in June. 



Soon after this came the war, with its interruption of ship- 

 ments and general demoralization of the market, from which it 

 has not completely recovered, and which has made statistics 

 either very incomplete and unreliable or altogether unobtainable. 



One thing has been demonstrated by the constraint placed 

 upon manufacturers to use the plantation product, and that is 

 a preference that exists in many instances for the Brazilian and' 

 wild rubbers and a willingness to pay more for them than for 

 the plantation article. That this is due to the fact that In tin 

 smoking to which the wild rubber is subjected as part of the 

 curing process is attributed a beneficial effect on its qualitj is 

 certain, and various attempts have been made by rubber men 

 and inventors in perfect a process of smoke curing adapted to 

 plantation rubber or to devise some-other means of treating the 

 latex s,i as to pn duce the properties the manufacturer esteems 

 in the smoke-cured product. Uthough various methods have 

 been suggested and quite a number of processes and apparatuses 

 patented, including mechanical and chemical methods of divers 



JANUARY FEBRUARY MARCH 



AUGUST SEPT. 



I 6 12 19 26 29 5 12 19 26 2 9 16 25 31 7 13 17 23 * 12 16 22 29 3 8 16 30 A 1+ 22 31 6 17 20 26 * 17 26 3 10 22 30 6 16 24 30 3 



V 

 V* 



V 

 V" 



Fluctuation in Prices of Standard Plantation Grades and Fine Hard Para Rubber Diking 1914. 



