38 



THE CUBA REVIEW 



The Sugar 



Sugar Prices 



Cuban Government revenues continue to 

 register gains. Habana bank clearings have 

 fallen off. Textile stocks are medium, agri- 

 cultural-implement stocks are very low, and 

 tractor stocks are diminishing. 



Improvement in Cuban Conditions 



The excellent prices realized for the 

 1922-23 Cuban sugar crop, now drawing to 

 a close, have brought about a marked im- 

 provement in practically every phase of 

 Cuban economic conditions. This general 

 recovery is reflected in the constantly in- 

 creasing Government revenues. 



The budgetary revenues for the first 

 seven months of the fiscal year from July 

 1, 1922, to June 30, 1923, reached a total 

 of $35,282,460, as compared with an 

 original budgetary estimate of $33,057,188. 

 When the average monthly receipts for the 

 seven months ($5,040,350) are compared 

 with the receipts for the last five months 

 of the fiscal year, the extent of the im- 

 provement is apparent. The budgetary 

 revenues for February were $6,100,000; for 

 March, $6,300,000; for April, $6,650,000; 

 for May, $7,870,000; and for June esti- 

 mates place the total at over $7,500,000. 



In addition to these budgetary revenues, 

 the Cuban Treasury has collected $3,336.- 



000 to date in the form of receipts from 

 the 1 per cent, sales tax. This represents 

 the proceeds of the tax for December, 1922, 

 and the first quarter of 1923. The surplus 

 of total revenue (budgetary revenues plus 



1 per cent, sales-tax receipts) for the cur- 

 rent fiscal year over the total expenditures 

 (budgeted and extrabudgetary) will prob- 

 ably exceed $10,000,000. 



Beattie Sugar Co. 



Beattie Sugar Company, which owns Cen- 

 tral Isabel, and has produced sugar in Cuba 

 since 1886, has sold to a syndicate of 

 American bankers headed by Peabody, 

 Houghteling & Company and Marshall 

 Field Glore Ward & Company $3,000,000 

 twenty -year first mortgage 7^ gold bonds, 

 to mature June 11, 1943. 



Sinking fund is expected to retire entire 

 issue at 105 and accrued interest by ma- 

 turity. 



Industry I 



Bonds are offered at 100 and interest, 

 to yield 7^4 per cent. 



Exports of Sugar from Matanzas to 

 United States 



Nearly all the sugar centrals in the 

 Matanzas district finished grinding by the 

 end of April, and as a result the supply of 

 labor for other industries is becoming very 

 plentiful. This annual release of labor at 

 the end of the sugar season is usually accom- 

 panied by a fall in wages, though up to the 

 present no reduction has been reported. 



The declared exports from Matanzas to 

 the United States during April are an indi- 

 cation of the present productivity of the 

 district. These exports included 31,104 

 tons of sugar, valued at $3,370,000, and 

 106,129 pounds of henequen, valued at 

 $5,650. — Vice-Consul William A. Smale, 

 Matanzas, Cuba. 



Louisiana Crop 



Final figures of Louisiana's 1922 sugar 

 crop, announced by L. L. Janes, statistician 

 for the Bureau of Crop Estimates, show a 

 total production of 295,095 ordinary tons 

 (263,478 long tons). While the crop fell 

 short of the 1921 output of 324,431 tons, 

 it was considerably larger than the crops 

 of the three preceding years. 



The cane acreage was larger than that 

 of any previous year since the war, as was 

 the recovery of sugar per ton of cane 

 ground, but the yield of cane per acre 

 was lower than in the four years preceding. 



A summary of the figures for 1922, with 

 comparison for 1921, shows: 



1922 1921 

 Xo. factories making 



sugar 112 124 



Sugar made, tons 295,095 324,431 



Avg. sugar per ton cane. 



lbs 156 155 



Cane used for sugar — 



Tons 3,778,110 4,180,780 



Acres. 241,433 226,366 



Avg. tons cane per acre 15.6 18.5 



Molasses made, gals 22,718,640 25,423,341 



Factories making syrup . 59 52 



Syrup made, gals 2,962,527 2,422,388 



Avg. syrup per ton cane. 20.5 .^l-O 



Cane used for syrup, tons 143,947 115,125 



The figures of syrup production relate 

 only to the area included in the twenty- 

 two "sugar parishes" of the state. 



