1 14 SUGAR 



in the most advanced beetroot country, Germany, the 

 average cost of production is about 9s. to 9s. 6d. per 

 cwt. But Russia, which produces less than a ton to 

 the acre, must have a considerably higher figure. The 

 other countries come between the two. In a first-class 

 cane sugar country, like Java or Cuba, the cost of pro- 

 duction might often be a good deal more than a shilling 

 below the cost in Germany. One conclusion can easily 

 be stated. The European producers will continue to 

 make as much sugar as their consumers want so long as 

 competition from outside is excluded. Whether they 

 can maintain their exports on the present scale is 

 doubtful. 



The reader may wonder why the United Kingdom, 

 by far the largest sugar consumer in Europe, is the 

 only European country which produces no sugar even 

 for its own vast consumption. The story which has just 

 been told of the European sugar industry is a sufficient 

 answer. As Mr. Robert Lowe told us years ago, ours 

 is not a paternal Government. With a market for 

 1 ,600,000 tons of sugar at our doors, and a good soil and 

 climate, we import it all and read the sugar market 

 report day by day under the cheerful heading of 

 " Foreign Produce." Germany, in the meantime, with 

 a home demand, in 1901-2, of about 800,000 tons, 

 not only supplied all her own sugar, but had, every 

 year, more than a million tons for exportation, half of 

 which was refined sugar. These are curious facts, of 

 which the general public, and even our rulers, know 

 little and care less. 1 



Since the abolition of the bounties, Germany's con- 

 sumption has risen to 1,600,000 tons, but she continued 

 to export a million tons. 



1 The production of beetroot sugar in Europe from 1909-10 

 to 1913-14 is given in Appendix II. The increase or decrease 

 for each country from 1903-4 to 1913-14 is given in Appendix IV. 



