30 BULLETIN 296, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



ether countries. In 1911-1913 an average of 26 million pounds a 

 year were sent to the United Kingdom, 30 million pounds to coun- 

 tries in North America, chiefly Central American and West Indian 

 countries, and about 4 million pounds elsewhere. The sugar consti- 

 tuted during 1911-1913 about one-seventh in value of the total 

 imports of agricultural products into the United States. 



COFFEE AND COFFEE SUBSTITUTES. 



Coffee. — The exports of coffee began in 1901, when the Spanish 

 possessions of Hawaii and Porto Eico became United States terri- 

 tory. The exports of coffee during the fiscal year 1901 were 497,559 

 pounds, and during the next year the exports increased to more than 

 27^ million pounds. Exports of this article continued to increase 

 until the latter amount was almost doubled in 1914, the exports being 

 54 million pounds. The bulk of this coffee is grown and exported 

 from the customs district of Porto Rico, and approximately one-half 

 was taken by Cuba during the period 1901-1914. The bulk of the 

 remainder was sent to four countries, Austria-Hungary, France, 

 Italy, and Spain. 



As early as 1790 our coffee imports amounted to more than 4 

 million pounds. Three years later the imports were over 34 million 

 pounds. More than 103 million pounds were imported in 1835, 236 

 million pounds in 1856, 516 million pounds in 1883, and more 

 than 1,091 million pounds in 1902, the largest quantity imported 

 for any one year. During the 10 years 1905-1914 the imports aver- 

 aged 932 million pounds annually. As a coffee importing country 

 compared with other countries, the United States ranks first, the 

 imports for recent years being approximately one-third of the total 

 imports into all countries. As a source of supply, Brazil leads all 

 other countries combined, supplying approximately three-fourths of 

 our coffee during the last 20 years. During the five-j T ear period 

 1895-1899 the average annual imports of coffee were 735 million 

 pounds, of which 72.5 per cent came from Brazil; 1900-1904 the 

 imports were 929 million pounds annually, of which 78.1 per cent 

 came from Brazil; 1905-1909 the imports were annually 965 million 

 pounds, of which 77.5 per cent came from Brazil; 1910-1914 the 

 imports annually were 899 million pounds, of which 74.8 per cent 

 came from Brazil. Other countries supplying large quantities of 

 coffee during the last five years were Colombia. Mexico, Venezuela, 

 and Guatemala. The imports from each of these countries, except 

 Venezuela, have nearly doubled during the last five years. In 191 I 

 the per capita imports were 10.2 pounds. The consumption of coffee 

 in the United States during the 1" years 1904-1913 averaged annually 

 slightly more than 10 pounds per person. Of the large quantities 



