April, 1910.] 



301 



Oils and Fats. 



THE SOY BEAN TRADE. 



(From the Indian Trade Journal, Vol. 

 XV., No. 191, November 25, 1909.) 

 In his Report on the Trade and Navi- 

 gation of the Port of Dairen (Dalny) for 

 1908, Mr. Acting Vice-Consul E. L. S. 

 Gordon gives the following particulars 

 regarding the Soy bean trade, which is 

 attracting attention in India just 

 now : — Soya beans have beeu shipped to 

 Europe from Hankow for some years 

 past, and attempts have been made to 

 open up a trade from Newchwang, but 

 these do uot appear to have been suc- 

 cessful. It is said that the reason for 

 this is that be^ns brought down by 

 river absorb moisture while on the 

 water, so that in passing through the 

 heat of the Indian Ocean they are apt 

 to ferment. Beans shipped from Dairen, 

 on the other hand, are brought down 

 by railway and are quite dry at the 

 time of export, while great care is 

 taken in repacking them and loading on 

 board ship. Towards the end of 1908 

 was commenced a trade in beans with 

 the United Kingdom and Europe, which 

 promises to have a great effect on this 

 part of China, and, in view of the great 

 possibilities of this trade, the following, 

 taken from a report which appeared 

 in the local newspapers some little time 

 ago, may prove of interest : — 



"The dry season of 1907 caused the 

 bean crop for that year to be only half 

 of the average. In 1908 there was a 

 good harvest, and the high prices ruling 

 during 1907 encouraged farmers to in- 

 crease the acreage under beans. Thus, 

 while the total produccion of beans in 

 South Manchuria was 580,000 tons in 

 1907, in 1908 it came to 830,000 tons. 

 Adding to this 166,000 tons brought down 

 from the northern districts, the total 

 amounts to over 1,000,000 tons, an in- 

 crease in round figures of 410,000 tons, 

 or at the rate of 70 per cent. Will this 

 increase go on every year ? 



"First of all, though there has been 

 an increase in planting, there is a limit 

 to its extension. Millet and kaoliang 

 are the most important products to the 

 natives, as they are the ordinary food 

 of both human beings and cattle, 

 while the stalks are used both for fuel 

 and as building material- It has been 

 calculated that of the total area under 

 cultivation, nearly 60 per cent, is under 

 kaoliang.and from 10 to 20 per cent: under 

 other cereals, leaving 20 to 30 per cent, 

 for beans. It is very rare that one finds 

 as much as 40 per cent, of the land 

 planted with beans. Besides, farmers 

 in Manchuria adopt the alternating sys- 

 tem, and do not plant the same crop on 



the same land every year. If kaoliang 

 is planted one year, millet will be plant- 

 ed the next, and will be followed the 

 ensuing year by beans, though of course, 

 this order is not strictly adhered to. 



" Secondly, except for a small portion 

 along the Sungari, there is no land 

 available for new cultivation within 

 easy reach of the railway south of 

 Changchun and Nung-an. In the Muk- 

 den district especially every available 

 inch is cultivated, so that to speak of an 

 increase in cultivation along the line 

 of the South Manchuria Railway is a 

 mistake. 



" In Mongolia, though some distance 

 from the railway, there are some 

 tracts which are being and will be 

 opened up- The estimated area for 

 fresh cultivation in Mongolia is over 

 500,000 acres in the Hsinan-chin dis- 

 trict, 1,650,000 acres in the four dis- 

 tricts of Yo-nan-fu, Tsi-nau, Kai-ton and 

 Ankuan, and over 330,000 acres in Takia, 

 altogether some 2,500,000 acres. It is a 

 question whether the products of these 

 districts wdl be brought into South 

 Manchuria or not. Though this is quite 

 possible, it cannot be stated definitely 

 that these districts come within the 

 sphere of the South Manchuria Railway, 



"At present there is a tendency for 

 the products of North Manchuria to be 

 brought down to South Manchuria. 

 For instance, 150,000 tons of the beans 

 brought to the south this year came 

 from the districts of Suan-chen-fu, 

 Petuna a nd Takia. This was due to the 

 better arrangements for transactions in 

 beans that exist in the south, and to 

 the fact that the principal customers 

 are Japan and South China. Freight 

 rates also contributed, but it is doubtful 

 whether this situation will continue for 

 long. At present there is a new demand 

 for beans in Europe, but it is said that 

 the amount being exported from Vladi- 

 vostok is greater in quantity than that 

 from Dairen. The present European 

 demand is still fairly small, but when 

 Vladivostok ceases to be a free port, 

 and the line from Vladivostok to Odessa 

 is in a more flourishing condition, many 

 cargoes will be sent by that route, 

 and this will be still more the case 

 when the Chinese Eastern Railway 

 lowers its freight rates. Taking all these 

 circumstances into consideration, in 

 future, beans f roiu North Manchuria will 

 be sent to Harbin, and those from the 

 Suan-chen-fu district will be sent by 

 the Chinese Eastern Railway for ex- 

 port to Europe. 



''From the above description can be 

 gathered the reasons for the increase in 

 1908, and a general idea of the future 



