THE CUBA REVIEW 



31 



TOBACCO AND SUGAR INDUSTRY 



OCTOBER'S CUBAN TOBACCO EXPORTS. 



1914 1913 



Leaf tobacco (bales) 24,577 52,370 



Cigars 8,903,755 20,390,700 



Cigarettes (packs) . . 741,621 1,294,700 

 Cut tobacco (kilos). 7,700 31,539 



Havana advices of November 26th, to 

 Tobacco of New York, were to the effect that 

 the chances of raising a crop of tobacco were 

 getting worse from day to day, as the weather 

 was threatening more heavy rains which 

 wouki make it impossible to set out seedhngs, 

 even where the latter could be obtained. 

 Some isoLated planting has been done in the 

 Partido and Vuelta Aljajo, which might get 

 drowned, unless the skies shoukl clear. In 

 the Santa Clara Province nothing has been 

 done. 



"Unless something unforeseen should hap- 

 pen," says the same publication, "the number 

 of unemployed cigar makers will be greatly in- 

 creased again, and we may experience the 

 winter of our discontent in earnest. As the 

 art of cigar making unfits the person from 

 using his hands in anj^ kind of hard manual 

 labor, even the help of our Government in try- 

 ing to procure them work in the paving of our 

 streets, or the building of roads in the Island, 

 would be of no benefit to the cigarmakers. 



Wlule it almost looked for a time as if Great 

 Britain would begin to order more largely 

 again, it now seems, that the demand has be- 

 come slacker. We understand, that the 

 French Regie had made up its list of distribu- 

 tion for the fiscal year, to our different man- 

 ufacturers, but that owing to the war and the 



naturally lessened consumption, the French 

 minister has not delivered the allotment to 

 any factory as yet, and it is more than doubt- 

 ful if he will do so before the conclusion of the 

 war. Germany, on the other hand, has sent 

 some orders of a considerable magnitude, and 

 which indicate that the interior affairs of 

 Germany must be almost normal. The diffi- 

 culty in the execution of orders from Ger- 

 many, however, rests in the fact, that while 

 the Holland-American line is perfectly willing 

 to accept cigars and tobacco as freight, it 

 exacts a sworn notarial statement, that the 

 goods are intended for consumption in the 

 Netherlands, and cannot be exported to Ger- 

 many. There is, besides the difficulty of not 

 having any rates of exchange between Havana 

 and Germany, so that manufacturers would 

 have to wait for a remittance, or a bankers' 

 credit on London." 



Advices under date of December 8th were 

 to the effect that the tobacco district in the 

 Pinar del Rio Province was still causing con- 

 siderable trouble to the government. 



A decree was issued a short time back offer- 

 ing free transportation to any who desired to 

 migrate to another part of the island, and 

 more than 300 fanilies have already done so, 

 while others are preparing to leave. This is 

 causing considerable alarm, and both the 

 president and the secretary of agriculture 

 have received telegrams asking that the decree 

 be cancelled, otherwise the tobacco district 

 will be utterly ruined. 



It is said tliat the province is becoming de- 

 populated and that those who remain are the 

 old and useless. 



NO BEET SUGAR IMPORTS WHILE THE WAR LASTS 



From Magdeburg, Germany, we learn that the weight of roots in Germany is increasing 

 owing to favorable weather. The yields also are better than in the last campaign, "but nobody 

 knows how many roots are actually at hand and how many will be fed to cattle." 



It is reported that the German Government has now arranged the traffic in sugar, 40 per 

 cent, being reserved for the inland consumption and the remaining 60 per cent, will be locked 

 up for larger requirements and for partial exports to neutral countries, but only with Govern- 

 ment permission. 



In Austria the crop progresses fairly, but in Galicia no production is possible. 



In Belgium the German Government allows sugar-making in territories occupied by German 

 troops and, perhaps, 100,000 tons may be produced. 



In northern France no production whatever seems possible. Between the Marne and 

 Belgium frontier, where the bulk of the factories are located, the war is raging at present. 

 Factories and root-fields are undoubtedly being destroyed. 



In Poland sugar-making is a hard thing too, this country being at one time occupied by 

 German and Austrian troops, and soon again by the Russians. The roads also are impassable 

 owing to excessive rains. 



From this information from Magdeburg we draw conclusions that non-producing countries 

 must rely upon cane sugar supplies entirely, unless next February it may develop that Russia 

 will have a surplus of her beet crop for exportation provided prices are high enough to cover 

 cost of production, which cost considerably exceeds the cost in either Germany or Cuba even 

 in normal times, and war makes high costs necessary. 



Even should the German Government open the way for exports to the ITnited States we 

 very much doubt if short supplies of cane sugar, and resultant high prices for sugar, will make 

 our market sufficiently high to warrant importation of such on the basis required for deliveries 

 and payment abroad and attendant risks of the voyage, so we eliminate from our market 

 expectations the importations of any European beet sugar so long as the war may last. 



WILLETT «s; GRAY. 



