129 



the value of 96° centrifugal sugar at the factory in Negros may safely be assumed 

 to be, under normal market conditions, 1 cent gold per pound, or 2.789 pesos per 

 picul, or 44.09 pesos per metric ton greater than that of "Assorted" at Iloilo at 

 any given time. With Iloilo prices as quoted above, 96° centrifugal would be 

 worth at the factory in Negros 9.914 pesos per picul, or 156.75 pesos per metric 

 ton (3.56 cents gold per avoirdupois pound)."'' 



As a basis of comparison of profits by each system may be used the hacienda 

 of 150 hectares just discussed, which produces annually 6,000 piculs (379.5 metric 

 tons) of sugar of 82° polarization from ten times this weight of cane. Given 

 the composition of the cane as ground (see p. 122), it is a comparatively simple 

 matter to calculate the approximate yield of 96° crystals obtainable by the average 

 modern sugar factory from the same weight of cane. A fairly good mill, con- 

 sisting of, say, nine rollers, with a preliminary crusher, will lose in the bagasse 

 the equivalent of about 60 parts first mill juice for every 100 parts of fiber 

 present (this is about the average ratio of over 100 estates in Java, as calculated 

 from data given by Geerligs,^) and, since the cane as ground in Negros contains 

 11.79 per cent fiber, the juice lost would amount to 7.07 per cent of the weight 

 of the cane, and there would, therefore, be extracted 85.57 — 7.07^=78.50 per cent of 

 the weight of the cane as juice. The average mill juice in Negros was found to 

 contain 17.20 per cent sucrose, so there would be extracted 13.50 per cent sucrose on 

 the weight of the cane, or 91.70 per cent of the total sucrose. The quotient of 

 purity of the mixed juice would, with this increased extraction, drop about 2 per 

 cent, or to 85. Substituting this figure in the commonly used formula of "available 



commercial sugar=per cent sucrose extracted in juiceX ( l 4 — ■ i^-i— . — I 



' \ ■ purity of jmce/ 



we find that 92.9 per cent of the sucrose extracted should be recovered as com- 

 mercial 96° sugar, making a yield of 12.5 per cent sugar on the weight of the 

 cane. From 60,000 piculs ('3,795 metric tons) we should expect to get by fairly 

 good working 7,500 piculs (474.4 metric tons) of 96° crystals, half of which or 

 3,750 piculs (237.2 metric tons), we are assuming, goes to the planter. His cost 

 of production under the new system would be the same as by the old, less 1.16 

 pesos per picul (18.34 pesos per metric ton) for manufacture and marketing in 

 Iloilo (see pp. 114 and 123), which would make the figure 2.99 pesos per picul 

 (47.27 pesos per metric ton). 



The profits of this plantation under the present and under the new 

 system could be estimated as follows: 



Present system. 



Received from the sale of — I'eso.i 



6,000 piculs )^,. ^.^o „,gjj, >,'o. 3, at -' " I^^"*^" P*''' P^^'"' I - - 42, 000 



379.5 metric tons) ' (110 pesos per metric ton j 



Cost of production of the same, atJ-*-l^P^^"^P^''P'™' . I 24,900 



( 65. 61 pesos per metric ton ) 



Profit 17,100 



'•At the time of writing (March, 1910) all prices are very much higher than 

 at the beginning of the season, so that the season's average will probably be 

 considerably higher than these figures quoted above. This does not affect the 

 calculation materially, as the difference in price between 96° and assorted remains 

 unchanged. 



"^Internat. Sugar Journ. (1909), 11, 324. 



95424 — -9 



