16 



THE CUBA REVIEW 



THE CUBAN TOBACCO INDUSTRY 



TOBACCO COMPANY S STATEMENT EXPORTS TO THE UNITED 



STATES 



HAVANA TOBACCO CO. S YEAR 



The Havana Tobacco Company reports 

 for the year ended December 31 last, and 

 issued March 4, 1913, were as follows : 

 Total income $50,822 ; operating expenses, 

 including interest on bills payable $243,307 ; 

 deficit $192,485 ; interest on gold bonds 

 $375,000; deficit $567,485.- 



The company for earnings relies entirely 

 upon the dividends of its holdings of stock 

 of Henry Clay and Bock & Co., Ltd., 

 Havana Cigar and Tobacco Properties, 

 Ltd., Havana Commercial Company, H. de 

 Cabanas y Carbajal and J. S. Murias y Ca. 



The combined earnings of the above 

 companies, after deducting all expenses for 

 management, depreciation, interest on deb- 

 entures, etc., were $857,179, of which the 

 proportion of Havana Tobacco Company, 

 based on its holdings of their respective 

 securities, was $680,001. Owing to the de- 

 ficits that existed on the books of some 

 of the companies prior to 1912, only a por- 

 tion of the year's earnings is available for 

 dividends. 



Included in the above statement are divi- 

 dends from Havana Cigar & Tobacco Fac- 

 tories, Ltd., aggregating $49,447. 



The balance sheet as of December 31 

 last shows : Assets — Stocks in other com- 

 panies $39,058,626 ; stocks in foreign com- 

 panies $2,810,691 ; accounts receivable 

 $15,004 ; preferred stock treasury $296,200 ; 

 common stock treasury $209,059 ; cash 

 $16,866 ; total $42,406,447. 



Liabilities — Common stock $30,000,000 ; 

 preferred stock $5,000,000 ; 5 per cent bonds 

 $7,500,000 ; accrued interest on bonds pay- 

 able June 1, 1913, $31,250; accounts and 

 bills payable $4,399,312; total $46,930,562; 

 deficit $4,524,114. 



The retiring directors were re-elected. 



THE CUBAN TOBACCO CROP 



[Consul General James L. Rodgers, Havana, 

 February 19th.] 



The present tobacco crop now being gath- 

 ered in Cuba is pronounced to be one of the 

 best in quality seen for several years. It 

 is said to be of good development in most 

 districts, of fine burning characteristics and 

 of light texture, as well as good aroma. 

 In the Province of Pinar del Rio, where 

 the great majority of the good filler tobac- 

 co is grown, the weather has on the whole 

 been favorable, with the result that a good 

 grade of staple filler will be produced and 

 in ample quantity. However, in this dis- 



trict it is stated that the percentage of 

 wrapper tobacco will be low, and that 

 causes the growers of the wrapper in the 

 Partido district to hope that their product, 

 which is also of good quality, will be in 

 great demand, and especially since the mar- 

 ket has almost been swept clean of the 

 1912 crop. 



There has been a deficiency of rain in 

 both the Partido (Havana province) and 

 the Remedios (Santa Clara province) dis- 

 tricts, and while in the first named this is 

 not so serious a matter owing to irriga- 

 tion facilities, it may have a great effect 

 uoon the latter, where the bulk of the 

 cheaper filler grades is grown. An occa- 

 sional rain during the next six weeks would 

 relieve the condition and would mean that 

 the present crop would be ample in quan- 

 tity. The reverse, however, would cer- 

 tainly jeopardize the outcome both in quan- 

 tity and quality. 



The general expectation of. the growers 

 is for good prices, and that hope seems jus- 

 tified in view of the quality of the 1913 

 crop and the known fact that but little of 

 stock remains in Havana or other market 

 centers. 



IMPORTS OF HAVANA LEAF AND CIGARS 



The following table shows the imports 

 from Havana at the port of New York, 

 during 1912, as classified by monthly re- 

 turns : 



Tobacco. Cigars. 



Bales. Cases. 



January ., 14,251 1,900 



February 12,398 1,903 



March 15,162 2,443 



April 9,050 2,002 



May 10,919 2,255 



June 12,790 2,437 



July ,15,171 1,892 



August 29,019 2,803 



September 29,733 2,522 



October 27,941 2,942 



November 30,021 3,375 



December 21,119 2,634 



Total 227,574 31,204 



1911 importations 138,630 29,123 



The Dutch West Indies, in proportion to 

 their population, make considerable impor- 

 tations of cigars from Cuba, says Tobacco 

 of New York. The imports in 1909 totalled 

 227,500 cigars ; in 1910, 309,825 cigars, and 

 in 1911, 59,860 cigars. 



