126 



COFFEE. 



Comhmed Shipments of Coffee from Rio and Santos. 

 (Bags, 60 kilos, 132 lbs ; 17 bags to the ton.) 



Average per annum, 239,149 tons = 513,393,760 lbs. 



Average consumption per annum in Brazil, 20,000 tons = 44,800,000 lbs. 



Total yearly production, 558,093,760 lbs. 



Here "we have the stupendous average of 558,093,760 pounds, 

 or 249,149 tons of coffee, annually, for seven years, from the par- 

 tially developed empire of Brazil. A, large proportion of the 

 government revenue is derived from a tax or duty imposed xipon 

 exports of coffee. The duty in Eio de Janeiro is thirteen per 

 cent., and in Santos thirteen and a half per cent., based on the 

 average quotation of coffee as fixed by the brokers every Saturday. 



From the preceding tables it will be seen that the United 

 States absorbs the larger portion of the Kio export, "while Europe 

 takes eighty-four and one-half per cent, of the Santos. During 

 the past seven years Europe has taken an average of nearly fifty- 

 t'wo per cent, of the Brazilian crop exported. 



With production being pushed in Central America and Mexico, 

 and large supplies from the East Indies, Ceylon, and India, it is 

 becoming a question of more than passing interest "what effect 

 the tremendous crops of Brazil -will have upon prices, as the total 

 supply is at present rather in advance of the "world's require- 

 ments. 



The coffee-tree seems to find the requisite conditions of cli- 

 mate and soil in almost every portion of the vast region known 

 as Brazil, and nearly everywhere gives an abundant yield. 



