THE CUBA REVIEW 



tons seem to be holding the place they won 

 in the market during the war. The trade 

 has become familiar with qualities, designs 

 and presentation. If prices and terms can 

 be arranged, American goods should hold 

 their place. The cheaper cotton lines con- 

 tinue to be active sellers, but more expen- 

 sive goods are moving slowly and woolens 

 are practically not moving at all. 



Beach cloths are selling very well. The 

 trade in this line is reported to be 100 per 

 cent, better than a year ago. The import 

 manifests show that imports of ready-made 

 clothing totaled 232 items in April and 704 

 in May, of which nine-tenths came from 

 the United States. Textile imports in gen- 

 eral rose from 3,901 boxes in April to 5,812 

 in May, in addition to heavy shipments of 

 miscellaneous piece goods. Imports of the 

 cheaper grade of stockings, of which there 

 was a shortage in April, rose from a total 

 of 522 items in April to 904 in May. All 

 but 32 of these items were from the United 

 States. 



Building Materials — Cement 



Cement sales were slightly greater in 

 May than in the preceding month, but 

 prices were lower. Small construction con- 

 tinues active. The cement-covered brick 

 is the typical variety of building for dwell- 

 ings and offices in Cuba. The only large 

 construction projects under way are the 

 docks of the Port of Habana Docks Co., 

 the Ward Line, and the new yacht club. 



Foreign Competition- 

 Conditions 



-Credit 



Supplies are coming almost exclusively 

 from the United States in all but a few 

 specialty lines and certain foodstuffs in 

 which American manufacturers cannot 

 compete. In all important lines credits are 

 being extended by foreign suppliers only to 

 houses of the first standing. — Based on 

 special dispatch from Acting Conwiercial 

 Attache Chester Lloyd Jones, Habana. 



Cuban Manufacture of Shoes 



The shoe industry of Cuba is centered at 

 Matanzas. Twenty-five factories, employ- 

 ing about 1,800 hands, produce approxi- 

 mately 1,000,000 pairs of shoes a year. 

 Nine-tenths of these are heavy workmen's 



shoes, which sell at wholesale for about 

 $3 a pair. 



Six of the factories are equipped with 

 modern machinery, and should anything 

 interfere with the importation of the better 

 grade of shoes (for instance, an increase 

 in the Cuban tariff) they can easily increase 

 their output and make^ a better quality shoe 

 than they now manufacture. In fact, one 

 or two firms are making earnest efforts to 

 compete with American shoes in this mar- 

 ket, and one factory, producing women's 

 and children's shoes, advertises its products 

 as equal to the imported article. 



Besides the factories, there are probably 

 15 individual shoemakers in Matanzas who 

 produce about 12,000 pairs a year. 



The leather used in the workmen's shoes, 

 both upper and sole, is tanned in Cuba, 

 but the better quality upper leather is 

 imported. 



The production of shoes at Matanzas for 

 the past three years, according to the 

 figures given by a prominent manufacturer 

 here, was as follows: 1919, 1,400,000 pairs; 

 1920, 1,032,000 pairs; and 1921, 811,200 

 pairs. — Vice Consul Thomas McEnelly, 

 Matanzas. 



Hospital Supplies, Drugs, Etc. 



It is stated that there is a good market foi 

 hospital supplies, drugs, and medicines ir 

 Cuba. The greater part of these come 

 from the United States, but a considerable 

 portion is obtained from France, and Ger- 

 many may be expected to become an 

 important competitor in the near future 

 (Consul John R. Putnam, Habana.) 



Cuban Wood-working Factory. 



The Compafiia Oriental de Meubles 

 (Oriente Furniture Co.), an important 

 wood-working establishment in Santiago 

 de Cuba, was recently opened. This fac- 

 tory has a floor space of 47,900 square 

 feet and consists of three stories, not in- 

 cluding offices and hardware store-room. 

 The machinery thus far installed includes! 

 lathes, planers, saws of various types, log 

 mill, molding and mortising machines, etc. 

 All the machinery is of American manu- 

 facture. 



