8ACCHARUM 



KXTKKNAL OKFICINAHUM 



Tia.lr 



to export the purer article, and indeed sugar (even of the finer qualities) 

 was treated as a ballast cargo, to be used in place of sal' 

 required. In none of the returns, therefore, were these export* raw 

 sugar, though expressed as such. They were entirely Indian refined TniflM 

 sugar, drawn from the indigenous refineries. It would not pay (so it *** 

 was believed) to export raw or inferior sugars from India, the freight* 

 IH-IIII,' then too hiuh. With tli.- Drouth <>i .-land and jj* 



aid, however, combined with greater facilities of shipping and conse- * 

 |ii*>nt i-l:, MII,.; lights, it no longer paid to .ship the refined sugars, 



and tin- < nsiiimiienta became more and more raw sugar to be used up by B*wBa*v. 

 tin- British refineries. 



The effect of this change may be briefly indicated. In 1877-8 the 

 exports of ii-tincd sugar stood at 477,128 cwt. A sudden drop occurred niMM4r 

 in the next year, when these exports were only 51,043 cwt., and ten yean ytw 

 later (1888-9) were only 34,523 cwt. But, correspondingly, the exports 

 of raw sugar were in 1877-8, 366,997 cwt. The average for 1882-92 

 came to 1,145,685 cwt.; for 1892-1902, 733,654 cwt.: the actual 

 for 1904-5, 192,890 cwt. ; for 1905-G, 230,498 cwt. ; and for 1906-7, 

 164,299 cwt. 



Thus there can be no doubt that a severe blow has been dealt to the S*TIBIOW. 

 Indian sugar industry, which, but for its own immense resources and 

 recuperative power, might have been calamitous. Had England continued 

 to purchase Indian raw sugar there is little doubt an immense expansion of 

 the area of production, and an enhancement of the yield, would have been 

 the natural consequences. AH this is now changed, and sugar represents 

 53-3 per cent, of the total value of the articles of food and drink imported, 

 and is the second largest single article of importation, the first being cotton 

 piece goods. Thus the two chief items of India's early export trade have Export* btee 

 become her greatest modern imports. 



2. import* from Foreign Countries. It is perhaps not necessary to trace Import*. 

 the history of the imports of sugar farther back than to the year 1871 i'. 

 India then received 562,559 cwt. of crystallised sugar. In 1881-2 the 

 imports were 982,262 cwt. and in 1891-2, 2,734,491 cwt. Still a decade 

 later (1901-2) they had become 5,565,272 cwt., and roughly in equal 

 proportions of beet and cane sugar. Taking the traffic in both refined 

 and unrefined sugars, the following year (1902-3) a shrinkage of the beet- 

 sugar took place, the total imports being 4,987,195 cwt. (of which 3,529,678 

 cwt. were cane) ; in 1903-4 beet still further declined, the total having 

 been 6,038,115 cwt. (5,485,378 cwt. cane) ; in 1904-S the beet began to 

 recover, and the total imports were 6,549,797 cwt. (4,833,309 cwt. cane) ; 

 in 1905-6 they were 7,696,191 cwt. (4,263,798 cane and 3,432,393 . 

 beet) ; and lastly, in 1906-7, they were 9,730,713 cwt. (5,926,879 cwt. 

 cane and 3,803,834 cwt. beet) (Rev. Trade Ind. t 1906-7, 8-9). 



Mr. Frederick Noel-Paton, Director-General of Commercial Intelligence, Beet and 

 observes that beet-sugar continues to rule the Indian sugar-market ; Cane 

 he further exemplifies the extraordinary vicissitudes of the trade by a 

 statement of the imports of beet and cane sugar, month by month, during 

 the year 1905-6. It is there shown that beet-sugar reaches India mainly 

 in the months of November to March, the last-mentioned month being 

 the most important, while cane conies more uniformly throughout the 

 year, the chief months being August to October. Analysing the returns, 

 it is found that 3,432,393 cwt. were beet, the average vaiue of which was 



959 



