ANNUAL AND AVERAGE I'RODUCTION OF AND 



INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN IMPORTANT 



AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS, 



BY COUNTRIES. 



Annual statistics of production and distribution, to liavo practical 

 value, must be correlated with comparable statistics. A statement 

 that a specified country has produced this year 100,000,000 bushels 

 of wheat has in itself little meaning. The query naturally arises: Is 

 this production unusually large, indicating a liberal supply, or does 

 it indicate a short supply, likely to cause a tendency toward liigher 

 prices? The mere statement of the year's production does not give 

 sufficient information to answer the queries. 



Furthermore, is the country in question an important factor, 

 either in the production or m the international trade in this product ? 



Crop news, especially that which appears in the daily or weekly 

 press, frecjuently contains bare facts relative to the indicated pro- 

 duction of a specified country, without comparative data. Traders, 

 who are constantly engaged in the business, may be able to compre- 

 hend such information readily, but man}' readers, although interested 

 in the subject, may not be similarly well informed nor have the 

 necessary comparative data in hand. For the purpose of having in 

 convenient form data of the average production of and trade in 

 certain crops in important countries, the following tables have been 

 prepared. 



Late, and, in most cases, official data have been used in every 

 instance. 



The figures of production in the United States relate only to con- 

 tinental United States, except that those relating to coffee and 

 sugar production include Porto Eico and Hawaii. 



The expression ''world's total production" of crops, used as in 

 trade circles, includes only countries for wliich trustworthy data 

 are available. Official data can be obtamed from most Govern- 

 ments, but there are a few large countries for wliich the olficial data 

 are incomplete; and some, such as Cliina and Persia, for which 

 official data of production are lacking. 



7 



