18 



THE CUBA REVIEW 



THE SUGAR INDUSTRY 



LOUISIANA SUGAR CROP DECREASED 

 50.000 TONS 



The Bureau of Crop Estimates of the 

 Department of Agriculture made the following 

 report on the Louisiana sugar crop of 1914: 



"The sugar crop of Louisiana for the season 

 just closed amounted to 242,700 short tons, or 

 practically 50,000 less than m 1913. The 

 yield per acre of the cane used for this sugar 

 was 15 tons in 1914, or two tons less than in 

 1913. More sugar, however, was obtained 

 per ton of cane in 1914 than in the preceding 

 year, and in fact more than in any other of 

 the four years for which this Department has 

 made report. The 1914 season was one of a 

 light tonnage of cane per acre and compara- 

 tively large sugar content. 



"Trade conditions from the beginning of 

 August up to the opening of the grinding sea- 

 son encourages the owners of factories to pre- 

 pare for an active season. Prices at New 

 York jumped in two weeks (from July 30 to 

 August 13) from 3.29 to 6.52 cents per pound 

 for '96 per cent test' sugar and, although a 

 decline followed until a low price was reached 

 early in November, there was nevertheless 

 much encouragement, so far as prices went, 

 when the Louisiana sugar houses began oper- 

 ations late in October. A subsequent decline 

 in prices and in opportunities for selling raw 

 sugar encouraged the making of more sugar 

 of grades fit for consumption without further 

 refining. Accordingly, about one-half of the 

 1914 output of Louisiana sugar consisted of 

 grades alaove 96 per cent polarization and 

 ready for immediate sale to the trade. In 

 1912 and 1913 only one-third of the total out- 

 put consisted of grades above 96 per cent. 



"The making of so much high grade sugar, 

 together with unfavorable market conditions 

 for raw sugar during the grinding season, 

 tended to reduce the receipts of Louisiana 

 sugar at New Orleans, and therefore to in- 

 crease the amount marketed elsewhere. Or- 

 dmarily, about three-fourth of the Louisiana 

 sugar crop reaches the city of New Orleans 

 by the middle of March. Of the crops of 1911 

 to 1913 the percentage received at the city 

 up to the middle of March ranged from 70 to 

 78 per cent. Of the crop of 1914 less than 55 

 per cent was reported to have reached New 

 Orleans by March 12, 1915. 



THE SUGAR MACHINERY MARKET IN 1914 



The reports of certain of the British sugar 

 machinery manufacturers which have ap- 

 peared in the reviews of the engineering trade 

 for the year 1914 are on the whole satisfactory, 

 and reveal a consideral)le amount of activity 

 in this branch of engineering. At the com- 

 mencement of the year the prices for sugar 

 were so low that there was not much reserve 

 available for investments in new machinery. 



It is, however, to be expected that the high 

 prices which ruled during the opening months 

 of the war, and in particular the benefit ac- 

 corded to the British Colonial and Cuban 

 sugar manufacturers, owing to the large pur- 

 chases of sugar last September l)y the British 

 Government at high market j^rices, will have 

 resulted in a sufficient abundance of profit as 

 to i)rovide cai)ital for orders for new machin- 

 ery or extensions of the factory. If this sur- 

 mise is correct, then there ought to be a fairly 

 brisk business, if not during the next few 

 months, at any rate as soon as the war is over. 



A feature of the new mills of factory equip- 

 ments which have been built recently has 

 been the increasing share taken by electricity 

 in supplying the motive power. Electric cen- 

 trifugals are of course nothing new, but the 

 applications of electricity to other kinds of 

 manufacturing plants has recently developed 

 markedly, e.g., electric-driven mills, electric- 

 driven boiler-house conveyers, electric- 

 driven crystallizers, etc.— indeed, in several 

 instances the complete factory has been ar- 

 ranged for electric drive. In some cases the 

 power is distritiuted by means of separate 

 motors for each machine, whereas in other 

 cases of electrical equipment provided within 

 recent date there appear to be but one or two 

 prime Tnotors coupled up by shafting and 

 belts to the different apparatus. Amongst 

 boiler-house improvements, we notice the em- 

 ployment in some instances of superheaters 

 for steam generation. The advance of the 

 superheater in general engineering practice, 

 in particularly in its application to locomo- 

 tives, has of late years shown such remarkable 

 improvement in power and fuel economy, that 

 it is only a question of time ere it is also 

 applied widely to both marine and stationary 

 engine t)oilers. And we anticipate that super- 

 heated steam will prove a powerful aid to 

 the older steam motor in competing with its 

 newer electric rival. 



Amongst the countries which have been in 

 the market the past year for large sugar 

 plants we notice Natal, Java, Peru, Formosa, 

 Queensland and Cuba. Smaller orders have 

 however, come in from almost every country 

 that produces cane sugar, and we anticipate, 

 as we said above, that the immediate future 

 will see even brisker trade with these cane 

 sugar countries, in which trade no doubt the 

 American makers will secure their share. — • 

 International Sugar Journal. 



CANADIAN IMPORTS OF SUGAR FROM CUBA 



Fiscal years Value in 



eliding March 31 Pounds dollars 



1911-12 29,349,044 908,879 



1912-13 34,985,299 949,072 



1913-14 112,185,879 2,321,425 



