THE CUBA REV IE TV 



23 



The Sugar Industry 



British and French Sugar Import 

 Requirements 



Careful estimates drawn from reliable 

 trade sources give the sugar consumption 

 of the United Kingdom for 1922 as 1,- 

 500,000 tons, as against 1,420,000 tons in 

 1921, and a pre-war consumption of 1,- 

 900,000 tons. It is expected that the 1922 

 figure will be larger in case sugar gets the 

 benefit of a lighter duty under the antici- 

 pated reduction in British taxation in the 

 next budget estimates. British refineries 

 should melt about 1,100,000 tons this year, 

 leaving 400,000 tons of refined sugar to 

 be imported, the bulk of which must be 

 drawn from American sources. The re- 

 fineries of the United Kingdom will be 

 mainly dependent upon Cuba for the rest 

 of the supply, as only small quantities can 

 be procured from the British West Indies, 

 the Dominican Republic, Brazil and Peru. 

 Crops of Java and Mauritius are not being 

 relied upon, as they are using white sugar 

 for local consumption and for distribution 

 in the Far East. The feeling prevails that 

 low-priced sugar is a disaster to all pro- 

 ducers and cannot be expected to last 

 much longer. Purchases in January were 

 stimulated, amounting to 70,000 tons of 

 raw sugar and 30,000 tons of refined; of 

 the latter, 13,000 tons came from Czecho- 

 slovakia, but the exporting power of that 

 country for the present year is reported as 

 nearly exhausted. 



In the case of France, five or six years 

 must elapse before the country becomes 

 self-supporting, as before the war. Pro- 

 duction this year is scarcely half the con- 

 sumption, which is rising but is not yet 

 back to the pre-war figure. Not less than 

 250,000 tons must be imported from now 

 to next October. It is expected that about 

 200,000 tons of this will be drawn from 

 American sources. The amount of Amer- 

 ican refined sugar purchased will depend 

 upon the prices and terms of sale. The 

 demand for irrevocable credits established 

 before goods are loaded is not liked by the 

 buyers, who would appreciate thirty days' 

 credit dating from issue of bill of lading. 

 Sales of refined sugar might be further 

 increased by sales of 400, 500 or even 

 100 ton lots on consignment, to be dis- 



tributed by duly qualified agents to French 

 buyers who operate on a small scale and 

 have not the cash necessary to import 

 large quantities direct. Outside the large 

 refineries, few firms are in a position to 

 import American sugar direct on a broad 

 scale. A large amount of the purchases 

 for French account are handled as a rule 

 through London brokers. 



Dominican Republic 



The year 1920 brought unprecedented 

 prosperity to the Dominican sugar indus- 

 try. The crop was the largest on record, 

 totaling 177,736 tons, as against 166,680 

 tons in the previous year, while the average 

 sales price of $12.65 per hundredweight 

 was more than double the price of $5.98 

 realized on the 1919 crop, and quadruple 

 that received for any of the pre-war years. 

 The total of 1,091,775 bags (320 pounds 

 each), which were shipped out during the 

 season, were valued at $45,738,878, rep- 

 resenting in value 78 per cent, of all Do- 

 minican exports. 



Early in the spring it was seen that a 

 scarcity of sugar prevailed in the United 

 States, and, as reports indicated a small 

 Cuban crop, speculation became rife, and 

 even dry-goods merchants and small pro- 

 vision dealers invested heavily in this 

 staple. Prices climbed rapidly upward 

 from $8 and $9 in January until the peak 

 was reached during the third week in INIay, 

 when sales were made at $22 per hundred- 

 weight. From this date forw'ard the mar- 

 ket steadily weakened until in December 

 local transactions were effected at $5 per 

 hundredweight. While all of the mills 

 made huge profits and were able to finance 

 extensive improvements and enlargements, 

 nevertheless numerous speculators, who 

 had bought near the peak of the market, 

 believed that the decline would be short- 

 lived and that a favorable reaction would 

 follow. These operators refused to sell 

 their holdings, and the result was that they 

 were obliged to shoulder heavy losses. 

 While next year's crop promises to be an 

 excellent one, it is now generally realized 

 that the boom period has passed. 



