THE MARKETS FOR WHOLE MILK 59 



cream fluctuates very widely with weather conditions or 

 gala days. Hence the manufacturers cannot contract 

 for a regular supply, but must buy large quantities on 

 short notice and not infrequently find it necessary to 

 cancel orders because of sudden changes in weather con- 

 ditions. Large factories, of course, make some ice cream 

 at all times; but, on the whole, the ice-cream factory is 

 not so stable a market as the others, and for this reason 

 many ice-cream makers now obtain much of their cream 

 from various creameries, paying enough to cover addi- 

 tional handling and transportation charges and yet leave 

 a profit for the creamery at least equal to what it would 

 have made by turning the cream into butter. Milk dealers 

 and producers for the city market cannot usually profit 

 much by the sale of surplus milk to the ice-cream trade for 

 the reason that the heaviest demand for ice cream comes at 

 the very time when there is a shortage in their own supply. 



Section j. The Export Markets for Milk 



The exports of milk are confined almost entirely to the 

 various powdered, condensed, and evaporated milks. 

 Prior to the outbreak of the World War milk exports 

 played a minor part in the milk business of the country, 

 but the unusual demands of the past few years have caused 

 the American condensed milk industry to flourish remark- 

 ably. 



The principal pre-war markets were the North American 

 countries of Canada, Mexico, Cuba, and Panama, whereas 

 of recent years the major exports have gone to Europe. 

 Pre-war condensed milk exports were distributed as 

 follows for two typical years : 1 



1 The Foreign Commerce and Navigation of the United States, 1912, p. 719; 

 Ibid. 1913, p. 585. 



