THE CUBA R E V I E W 



BRITISH VIEW OF CUBA'S SUGAR INDUSTRY 



PASSING INTO UNITED STATES HANDS CANADA BIDDING FOR 



SUGAR PRODUCTION COSTS 



Recent IJritish consular reports have the following regarding the Cuban sugar industry: 



The crop of the 1909-10 season amounted to 1,800,000 tons, or 100,000 tons in excess 

 of the estimates. Trustworthy estimates of the production of sugar for the 1910-11 

 season set the figure at 12,241,100 bags (1,750,000 tons). The accuracy of these figures, 

 based on the working of 170 mills now in operation, depends on the continuance of 

 favorable weather during the cutting season, which extends from December to June. 

 It is not anticipated, however, that the price will reach the high figure of the past 

 season, the shrinkage in value being estimated at £4,000,000 ($19,466,000). 



The estimated amount of sugar grown for home consumption for the past three vears 

 was: 190S, 62,827 tons; 1909, 69,706 tons; 1910, 71,185 tons. Of the remainder, almost 

 the entire_ amount is exported to the United States, and, indeed, the sugar industry 

 of Cuba is slowly passing into foreign, principally United States, hands. The trade 

 with the United States is fostered by the reciprocity treaty between the two countries, 

 by which Cuban sugar imported into the United States receives preferential treatment. 

 The Arnerican Sugar Trust controls a number of important plantations in the island. 

 A certain number of refineries have been established, and that branch of the industry 

 is now practically in a position to supply local requirements, as is revealed by the 

 statistics of the importation of refined sugar, which show a decrease from 8,227 hundred- 

 weight in 1905 to 425 hundredweight in 1910. 



The average retail prices in Cuba for the year 1910 were for white granulated sugar 

 3%d. (6¥2 cents) per pound, and for second quality sugar 2d. (4 cents) per pound. 

 The average price for molasses at the mill during the same period was 1.7d. (3.4 cents) 

 per gallon. The average wholesale price of sugar of the standard grade of 96 degree 

 te.st, warehoused for export, for the past three years has been : 1908, lis. 6d. per 

 hundredweight (2.496 cents per pound) ; 1909, 10s. 6d. per hundredweight (2.279 cents 

 per pound; 1910, lis. 4%d. per hundredweight (2.469 cents per pound). The average 

 monthly prices of sugar (polarized 96 degrees), warehoused ready for shipment at 

 Habana, during the year 1910 were, in cents per pound : January, 2.305 : Februarv, 2.454 ; 

 ]March, 2.643 ; April, 2.549 ; May, 2.549 ; June, 2.494 ; July, 2.565 ; August, 2.628 ; "Septem- 

 ber, 2.589; October, 2.21; November, 2.084; December, 2.092. 



The exportation to the United Kingdom has increased from none in 1908 to no less 

 than 119,418 hundredweight from the 1909-10 crop. This was probably due to the 

 shortage in the European beet-sugar crop, and a corresponding increase is not antici- 

 pated in the exportation of the present year. Canada is making a bid for Cuban 

 sugar, and the legislature of that country has made a provision allowing Canadian 

 refineries to import Cuban sugar up to 20 per cent of their total output on the same 

 terms as sugar from the British West Indies. 



During the month of February, in order to bring the country into line with the 

 requirements of the Brussels sugar convention of 1902, the Cuban government reduced 

 the import duties on raw sugar to $1 per 100 kilos (220 pounds), and on refined sugar 

 to 75 cents per 100 kilos. The question was one of vital importance to the Cuban 

 sugar industry, which, although chiefly dependent on the United States market, is 

 able to deal, as long as the European market is open, at the price fixed in that market. 



The industry is in a thoroughly thriving condition. The soil is of such fertility 

 that the canes will continue productive without renew-al for a period unknown in 

 other countries. The prosperity resulting from the recent crops has caused large 

 purchases of modern machinery, which lead to great economies in production and 

 consequently increased profits. The average production per acre is 12 bags, or 3,900 

 pounds. The usual course with the planters is to arrange with a mill to take their 

 cane, receiving in return 55 to 60 per cent of the value of the sugar produced there- 

 from. This averages ilO to£l2 ($48.67 to $58.40) per acre. The remainder, together 

 with the second-grade sugar and the molasses, goes to the' mill. Sugar is a sure crop 

 that is little aflrected by cyclones and requires but little skill or attention. The plowing 

 for the spring sowing is done in January, February and March, and the planting in 

 April and May, and the autumn planting in August or September. Satisfactory sugar 

 land may be bought at £4 to flO ($19.47 to $48.67) per acre. 



Regarding the costs of sugar production the consular reports quote the Produce 

 Market Reviezv of London, which says : 



The Czarnikow estimate for beet sugar does not vary much from the Produce Market 



