COMMERCE IN MAIZE GRAIN 525 



There is no question but that the inauguration of an export chap. 

 trade was very greatly stimulated by the exceptionally good xn - ' 

 market which prevailed in 1907 and 1908. The editor of the 

 London Corn Circular stated that conditions during 1907 had 

 been abnormal : " There have been no such prices for many 

 years," he said, " and while it is fairly safe to say that the high 

 rate will continue on the present crop, next year may see a 

 drop of 5s. per quarter to the average. The American crop 

 has been poor as to quantity and quality, and even last season's 

 yield was indifferent." The Corn Trade List, in its issue of 

 1 November, 1907, remarked that : "There is very little or no 

 improvement in the Roumanian crop prospects, and none in the 

 outlook of the American crop, whilst the Argentine surplus 

 shows evident signs of approaching exhaustion ". 



The Times of Argentina, of 30 September, 1907, expressed 

 the opinion that there was then " very little maize left in the 

 country, and since then nearly 1,000,000 quarters have been 

 exported. We have for some time held the opinion that the 

 high prices have drawn out this year's surplus at a far greater 

 rate than usual, and it is not improbable that the exports will 

 come to a somewhat abrupt conclusion much earlier than many 

 expect. It has been reported this week, indeed, that some 

 November-December contracts have been cancelled. The 

 present week's shipments are cabled as 114,000 quarters, 

 against 151,000 quarters last week, and 243,000 quarters in 

 the corresponding week last year : and our correspondent adds 

 that the inland movement is now small." 



503. Cause of Abnormal Prices. — The cause of these prices 

 was undoubtedly the unusual combination of" short" crops in 

 the United States, Argentina, and Roumania, combined with 

 an increased demand for stock-feeding and manufacture, both 

 in England and on the Continent. Fortunately for South 

 Africa, she had bumper crops, with a corresponding tendency 

 to reduced local prices, which induced her to look abroad for 

 an outlet for her surplus crop. It may thus be said that pro- 

 pitious circumstances forced her into the oversea market. 



According to Beerbohm's Evening Com Trade List (Nov- 

 ember, 1907), estimates of the yields in the big surplus-pro- 

 ducing Maize States indicated a shortage in those States of 



