Revival of Part of the substantial improvement in the sugar situation 



Sugar in recent months has been due to the revival of our export trade 



Exports - n re fi ne d sugar. In the pre-war years 1911-13, our maximum 



sugar exports were only slightly in excess of 35,000 tons, but beginning in 

 1914, they expanded rapidly and the peak figure of 703,863 tons was reached 

 in 1916. During 1917-18, exports of refined sugar fell off but in 1919 they 

 increased to 658,664 tons. In spite of the world wide business depression 

 of 1920 and 1921 and the depreciation of foreign exchange, our exports were 

 around 415,000 tons of refined sugar in each of these two years. There has 

 been an improvement of business conditions abroad and the exchange situa- 

 tion is now materially better for the more important consumers. Up to 

 October 4 of the present year, it is estimated that we have exported 805,000 

 tons of refined sugar or more than our exports in any previous single year. 

 Exports since January 1st of the present year have been nearly three times 

 those of the similar period in 1921. Not only have we exported unprecedented 

 quantities of refined sugar during the first nine months of the year, but ex- 

 ports of raw sugar from Cuba to England and the continent of Europe have 

 been more than 1,000,000 tons. Considering merely the present crop of 

 Cuban sugar, exports of raw sugar to Europe have been over three times 

 what they were for a similar period last year. Foreign as well as domestic 

 consumption of sugar has shown a substantial increase in recent months. 



Increased Foreign demand has been of importance as a factor in the 



Domestic improved sugar situation, but it has been the greatly increased 



Consumption d omes ti c consumption of sugar which has been chiefly respon- 

 sible for the rapid recovery of the sugar industry to normal conditions of 

 supply and demand. According to Willett & Gray, the United States con- 

 sumed 2,781,218 tons of sugar in the six months ended June 30, 1922. This 

 is at the rate of about 5,500,000 tons per annum as compared with a con- 

 sumption of 4,107,328 tons last year. While consumption in the latter part 

 of the year is usually somewhat less than in the first six months, there is 

 every reason to believe that this year will be a record year in the volume of 

 sugar consumed in the United States. In this connection, Willett & Gray 

 observe that the present rate of consumption is almost that which would 

 normally be expected if it had increased at the same average annual rate 

 as over the past 99 years namely, 5.216%. This tremendous increase 

 in consumption of sugar demonstrates the inherent stability of the industry 

 when freed from arbitrary restrictions and control. 



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