Among the South American countries in which our productions are 

 consumed, Brazil continues to occupy the foremost place, and albeit that 

 the economic conditions are not equally favourable in all parts of this 

 enormous country, yet on the whole our exports have again taken a very 

 considerable step forward. In a report of the Austrian Consul-General 1 ) 

 at Rio de Janeiro the following passage occurs: "the present economic con- 

 dition of Brazil, the purchasing power of the population and the oppor- 

 tunities for selling goods do not present a uniform aspect yet. There is no 

 doubt that the conditions in the coffee-growing districts, that is to say in 

 the first place the State of Sao-Paulo, and in part also Minas Geraes, 

 Espirito Santo and Rio de Janeiro, are favourable, and will probably remain 

 so for a considerable time. These States should be energetically worked 

 by our exporters, representatives and commercial travellers. But in the 

 North, where the rubber-lands are, caution is to be recommended until 

 the conditions have returned to the normal of their own accord, or have 

 been brought back to that point by the economic measures which are 

 about to be carried out by the Federal Government, such as the cheapening 

 of the cost of living, the lowering of wages, the encouragement of the 

 manufacture of rubber-goods, colonisation, the construction of railways, 

 and so on". The decrease in Brazilian exports, which manifested itself in 

 the first quarter of the year 1911, has been made good in the course 

 of the remainder of the year, with the result that the value of the exports 

 for 1911 exceeds that of the imports by about £ 14 millions, a difference, 

 however, which is less than that of the preceding year by about £ 1 million, 

 notwithstanding that the value of the exports in 1911 exceeded that of 

 1910 by over £ 37a million. The favourable course which was taken by 

 the coffee-quotations in the first quarter of 1911 has continued until nearly 

 the end of the year, with the result that the value of the coffee exported 

 in 1911 exceeds that of the previous year's exports by over 221 millions 

 milreis, although the exports have only increased in bulk from 9,7 to 

 11,2 million bags. But on the other hand the decline in rubber-exports 

 has also been continuous, the value of the shipments of this staple having 

 fallen behind those of the preceding year by over 150,5 million milreis. 



We give the above particulars in completion of our statements of 

 April last. 



It is gratifying to note that the Brazilian Government has rejected, 

 at any rate for the present year, the request of the United States for 

 preferential customs duties upon a further series of goods imported into 

 Brazil, or alternatively for an increase in the preferential treatment already 

 accorded to United States imports into Brazil to 40 p. c of the duty. Such 

 a preference would, however, be of small importance so far as our manu- 

 factures are concerned, because the United States only plays a modest 



*) Handelsmuseum 1912, 29, 414. 



