T H E CUB A REV lEW 11 



Some Sugar History 



March, 1921 to March, 1922 



By H. 0. Neville 



Those readers of the Cuba Review who have been following the history of Cuba's 

 sugar industry as outlined in the March issue of 1921, will remember that in late 

 February of that year an organization called the Sugar Finance Committee had been 

 appointed by Decree issued by President INIenocal to control the sale of sugars being 

 produced in the crop then being made. They will remember that this committee was 

 the result of petitions presented to President Menocal by many of the leading sugar 

 producers of the Island, who feared that a continued offering of sugars upon the 

 northern market by our producers so sorely in need of funds, would cause the 

 constant lowering of sugar prices which would rapidly reach a point very much more 

 below the cost of production than were those prevailing at the time the committee 

 began operations. They will also remember that the Decree provided that the com- 

 mittee should begin operations only after the consent to its organization and agreement 

 to abide by its control were obtained from the producers of 75% of the crop made 

 the previous year, and that just previous to March 1st the consent of this number 

 of producers had been secured. The committee was composed of members representing, 

 not only the mill owners and cane producers, but also the bankers who had been most 

 instrumental in furnishing funds for the making of the crop, and the Secretary of 

 Agriculture, Commerce and Labor, at that time General Agramonte. Operation of 

 the committee began on the 22d of February, with the adherence of mills which the 

 previous year had produced 21,160,826 bags of sugar. 



Our readers will also remember what the immediate effect of the organization 

 of this committee was. From the price of 3j^c. per pound c. & f. New York at which 

 sugar had been sold immediately preceding the organization of the committee, the 

 price gradually rose until as high as 554c. was obtained about March 17, with con- 

 siderable activity shown by the market during this interval. At this price, however, 

 sugars entering from the United States possessions displaced to a very marked extent 

 the Cuban sugars, so that the committee was obliged to reduce its price on April 1st 

 to 5c. c. & f., and shghtly later to 4%c., then to 4;>4c., and on April 12th to AY^c. 

 c. & f. About this time also the disturbing influence of the prospective passage of 

 the Emergency Tariff in the United States caused sugar buyers to hesitate, with further 

 price concessions, until finally on the 26th of April the price of 3%c. was reached. 

 In early May the committee withdrew from the market, but in view of a further drop 

 in price, followed, however, by some firmness on the 10th of May, the committee 

 again entered the market at SJ^c, though the quantity of sugar sold at this price 

 was small. Further firmness enabled parcels of 1919-1920 sugars in warehouse in 

 New York to be sold at the equivalent of 4^c. c. & f., without movement of new 

 crop sugars through the committee's hands. The latter part of May President Harding 

 signed the Emergency Tariff Bill, increasing the duty on Cuban sugar from 1.0048c. 

 to 1.6c. per pound, and this increase, instead of being added to the cost of sugar to 

 the consumer in the United States, was deducted from the price off'ered to the producer 

 in Cuba, with the committee unwilling to sell. This condition persisted during prac- 

 tically all the month of June, but in early July the committee seemed to have come 

 to the conclusion that the time was ripe for further operations, so that sales were 

 authorized at 3c. per pound c. & f., which price held until August 1st, on which date 

 it was raised to 3>^c. The market held firm at this figure until the 15th of August, 

 on which date Porto Rican sugars were sold at the equivalent of 3.15c. and later 

 on at the equivalent of 3c., the drop being followed by the committee. Notwith- 

 standing the fact that during the last half of August sugars from other sources were 

 purchasable in the United States at the equivalent of 2.40c. per pound for Cubas, 

 the committee continued to demand 3c., thus practically withdrawing from the market 



