THE COFFEE TRADE. 191 



activity contimied, and during October there was much excite- 

 ment, wide fluctuations marking speculative operations. In 

 August, Brazil sold at lij @ 15J cents, and in October, at 19 

 @ 20f cents ; Java advanced from 121 @ 13 cents, in August, to 

 16J @ 16^ cents during the latter part of December. 



— 1872 — 



The decline in the receipts from 322,7'00,479 pounds in 1871, 

 to 277,636,258 pounds in 1872, was due to a short crop in the 

 Brazils, from whence the bulk of supplies came, and to the failure 

 of the Java crop. On July 1st, the remaining duty of three 

 cents was removed, and yet the average gold price of fair to prime 

 Eio was 2^ cents above that of 1871 ; Maracaibo and Laguayra, 

 averaged nearly 2 cents higher, while Java was 21.3 cents, 

 as against 21.29 cents the year preceding, the lowest price being 

 made in November, when it sold at 18^ @ 19^ cents ; the highest 

 in January, when it was held at 23 @ 25 cents. 



— 1873 — 



The effect of the short crops was seen during this year in 

 the marked advance in prices. Brazil, Java, Ceylon, and "West 

 India countries were short in their supply, the exports from Rio 

 falling over 51,000 tons below those of 1872, while the Sumatra 

 crop, which was very short in 1872, was in 1873, 46,380 piculs 

 below the average per year for the five years from and including 

 1867 to 1871. 



The highest price of Brazil sorts was reached in September, 

 when fair to prime sold at 21f @ 23 cents, averaging for the year 

 19.99 cents, against 18.42 cents in 1872 ; Java sold during the 

 same month at 25f @ 27 cents, and in December, at 30 @ 34 

 cents, an advance oven the price on January 1st of 11 @ 13 cents 

 per pound. The average price of Java for the year was 23.63 

 cents, against 21.3 cents in 1872. 



— 1874 — 



This year was marked by large speculative transactions, ac- 

 companied by wide fluctuations in price. The growth of con- 

 sumption in Europe and America, light stocks and diminished 



