TRITICUM 



VULCARE 



Trade 



THE WHEAT PLANT 



Balance over 

 Exports. 



Exports. 



From Bombay. 



Imports. 



Prom 



Australia. 



Internal 

 Traffic. 



Exports from 

 Panjab to 

 Karachi. 



total production. There would seem little doubt, moreover, that by far 

 the major portion of the flour annually produced in India is turned out by 

 the indigenous hand- and water-power mills and thus escapes registration 

 of any sort. No more particulars can, therefore, be afforded of the con- 

 sumption of flour than are implied by the annual production of wheat 

 and the balance of that cereal that remains in the country over and 

 above the foreign exports. 



Exports of Flour. There is, however, a considerable trade iiii export- 

 ing wheat flour, and this has manifested recently a noteworthy expansion, 

 although the traffic of last year showed a decline from the returns of the 

 years immediately previous. In 1900-1 the exports were 497,346 cwt., 

 valued at Es. 35*83,176 ; 1901-2, 529,328 cwt., valued at Es. 37,12,876 ; 

 1902-3, 718,077 cwt., valued at Es. 46,54,631 ; 1903-4, 810,422 cwt.,. 

 valued at Es. 52,98,843 ; 1904-5, 1,031,495 cwt., valued at Es. 69,21,610 ; 

 1905-6, 899,056 cwt., valued at Es. 63,83,264 ; and 1906-7, 818,462 cwt., 

 valued at Es. 58,57,116. The great bulk of these exports goes from Bombay, 

 viz. 661,368 cwt. in 1906-7, the balance being divided between Bengal and 

 Sind, while the chief markets are Arabia, Aden, Ceylon, Mauritius, British 

 East Africa, the Straits Settlements and Egypt. A considerable export 

 trade in wheat flour to the United Kingdom appeared for the first time in 

 1904-5, amounting to 52,523 cwt., but contracted to 1,800 cwt. in 1906-7. 



Imports of Wheat and Flour. A certain amount of foreign WHEAT 

 is imported into India, and according to Noel-Paton (Rev. Trade Ind., 

 1906, 31), "in times of shortage it is taken in considerable quantities 

 even by ports from which grain is commonly shipped." The quantities 

 have been : 1902-3, 783 cwt., valued at Es. 4,757 ; 1903-4, 18,852 cwt., 

 valued at Es. 97,764 ; 1904-5, 129 cwt., valued at Es. 432 ; 1905-6, 

 454,614 cwt., valued at Es. 22,53,648 ; and 1906-7, 209,696 cwt., valued 

 at Es. 11,38,976. Of the total for 1905-6, Australia supplied 395,696 

 cwt. and Turkey-in-Asia 58,798 cwt. Noel-Paton points out that " this 

 total was exceeded only in 1896-7 and in 1900-1, when 601,356 cwt. 

 and 559,351 cwt. respectively were imported ; but in each of the famine 

 years, 1877-8 and 1878-9, the imports exceeded 400,000 cwt." Small 

 quantities of wheat flour, subject to duty, are also imported, and have 

 averaged for the years 1902-7, 18,500 cwt. 



Internal Traffic. Rail and Riverborne Traffic. The total transactions by 

 these routes on the average for the years 1902-7 were 31,874,712 cwt. 

 wheat and 1,699,091 cwt. flour. In 1906-7 the figures were 28,556,137 

 cwt. wheat and 2,350,388 cwt. flour. Of wheat, the Panjab exported 

 that year 20,537,369 cwt., viz. to Karachi, 14,959,915 cwt. ; to Eajpu- 

 tana and Central India, 1,594,477 cwt. ; to Calcutta, 1,217,100 cwt. ; to- 

 the United Provinces, 1,119,578 cwt. ; and to Bombay, 1,025,751 cwt. 

 It will thus be seen that the bulk of the railborne traffic is from the Panjab 

 to Karachi. But Karachi obtains wheat also from Sind province and from 

 the United Provinces, the grand total of its supplies having been in the year 

 under notice 17,018,238 cwt., an amount which it will be seen would have 

 sufficed to meet the foreign exports of 15,434,060 cwt. Of course it is not 

 always safe to assume that the actual amounts shown in the internal 

 traffic appear again in the foreign transactions, but the average of several 

 years would overcome the overlappings that take place. It is sufficient, 

 therefore, to show that the wheat exported from Karachi to foreign 

 countries is drawn mainly from the Panjab. 



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