January, 1909.] 31 Edible Products. 



freights with Glasgow and Liverpool. The prices realised in Calcutta have 



About 73,200,000 lbs. were auctioned in shown a greater advance on those of the 



Calcutta during the past season, of previous year than those in London, and 



which only about 20,000,000 lbs. went to several of the London- Assam Companies 



London, and of the balance Russia (direct have found it profitable to auction their 



and through China and Ceylon) absorbed lower grades of tea here rather than at 



27f millions and Australia lOf millions. Home. 



Prices at Auction in Calcutta. 





Broken 



Pekoe. 



Pekoe. 



Pekoe Souchong, 

 Souchong, Pekoe 

 Fannings 

 and Congou. 



Net 

 Average 

 Price. 



Vari- 

 ation. 





Price. 



Vari- 



Price. 



Vari- 



Price. 



Vari- 









as. ps. 



ation. 



as. ps. 



ation. 



as. ps. 



ation, 



as. p. 





1904-05 ... 



5 10 



100 



5 4 



100 



4 6 



100 



5 4 



100 



1905-06 ... 



6 3 



107 



5 2 



97 



4 2 



93 



5 5 



100 



1906-07 ... 



6 8 



114 



5 7 



105 



4 7 



102 



5 5 



102 



1907-08 ... 



7 2 



123 



6 10 



128 



6 2 



137 



6 8 



125 



The average price realised in 1907- 

 with 8-lld. per lb. in 1906-07. 



in London was 8'21d. per lb. as compared 



In spite of the efforts of the Indian Tea Association, estimates of production 

 continue under suspicion of great inaccuracy, and for this the planters must be 

 held chiefly to blame. The crop in 1907 was generally considered to be better than 

 that of the previous year, except in Bengal. The table below gives approximate 

 figures of the area, production and land exports during the last five years, and the 

 actual figures of exports by sea during the same period :— 



1903 

 1904 

 1905 

 1906 

 1907 



Area. 



acres, 

 526,611 

 524,472 

 528,004 

 529,246 

 536,652 



Production, 

 lbs. 



209,041,888 

 221,565,631 

 221,712,407 

 241.403,510 

 248,020, 39 8 



By land; 

 679,616 

 744,352 

 760,256 

 942,256 

 865,648 



Exports (lbs.) 



By sea. 

 204,123,723 

 211,395,940 

 210,798,056 

 235,815,697 

 235,422,376 



The export trade is practically confined 

 to three ports, Calcutta shipping, 73 - 9 

 per cent. ; Chittagong, 18'9 per cent, 

 (almost entirely to the United Kingdom), 

 and Madras, 6-2 per cent. Five years 

 ago Calcutta claimed 83 per cent, of the 

 total. 



The Coast shipments were in the last 

 two years :— 



1906-07. 1907-08. 

 lbs. lbs. 

 From Bengal .. 3,298,495 3,380,385 



,, Eastern Bengal 



and Assam ... 1,185,327 854,117 



The recorded exports of Green tea by 

 sea and by land during the last three 

 years were : — 



lbs. 



1905- 06 2,183,940 



1906- 07 2,034,384 



1907- 08 1.806,031 



—Indian Trade Journal, September 3rd. 



TEA IN BURMA. 



It will be interesting to tea planters 

 to note some figures on tea drinking in 

 Burma given in the seventh triennial 

 report just issued on Burma's trans- 

 frontier trade. Taking the population 

 of the province as at the last census, 

 the quantity of tea consumed annually 

 is about two pounds per head of popula- 

 tion. The advance in the consumption 

 of wet or pickled tea was 398,000 pounds. 

 During the financial year 1907-08 the 

 quantity of pickled tea imported from 

 the Northern Shan States was 16,359,878 

 pounds, and dry tea 2,477,952 pounds, 

 besides 1,389,000 pounds imported by sea. 

 The wet or pickled tea is considered a 

 luxury by the Burmans. The trade of 

 the province is altogether in a very 

 healthy condition. The total value of 

 the inland foreign trade shows an in- 

 crease of 376 lakhs, or 34*76 per cent, over 

 the figures of the previous triennium. 

 Of this amount 164 lakhs represents the 

 value of silver, and the remainder 



