Gums, Resins, 



50 



[Feb. 1907. 



MEMORANDUM ON RUBBER INDUSTRY IN MEXICO. 



I. Position op Rubber Industry.— The Rubber Industry of Mexico can be 

 described as being in its infancy. Nearly all, if not all, the Rubber produced in 

 Mexico is from wild plants, the Castilloa elastica chiefly. The Castilloa elastica 

 is found in the states of Oaxaca, Chiapas, Tabasco, Vera Cruz, and in parts of 

 Mi^hoacan, Guerrero, Tamaulipas, and San Luis Potosi. 



Several attempts, more especially in Oaxaca, Vera Cruz, Chiapas and 

 Tabasco have been made to cultivate Rubber Trees, but so far as I am aware none 

 have yet proved commercially successful. Unfortunately many plantations of 

 Rubber were made use of by fraudulently disposed persons to obtain money from 

 greedy but credulous investors, chiefly in the United States. 



II. It is quite impossible to estimate the extent of land which has been 

 planted with rubber trees, no data of a reliable nature is to be obtained. There is 

 no Government Department of Agriculture. 



III. Of recent years, a substance closely resembling Rubber is being made 

 from a plant known in Northern Mexico as " Guayule." There are factories for the 

 manufacture of this substance at Torreson, in the state of Coahuila ; at San Luis 

 Potosi and at Jimulco in Zacatecas and at other places in Northern Mexico. 



The Guayule plant which used to grow on otherwise worthless land is now 

 being extensively cultivated in the Northern states of this republic, so that when the 

 estates now being cultivated with the Castilloa elastica yield rubber in commercial 

 quantities, it can be reasonably supposed that there will be a continous and slowly 

 increasing yield of rubber from Mexico. 



IV. Statistics.— No distinction is made in Export statistics between wild 

 and cultivated rubber. The Mexican Fiscal Year commences on July 1st and ends on 

 the following June 30th. 



Fiscal Year 1902—1903. 



Country to which Quantity Value 



exported. Kilogrammes. Pesos. 



Germany ... 

 Columbia .. 

 United States 

 France 

 Holland ... 

 United Kingdom 



Germany ... 

 Columbia ... 

 Spain 



United States 

 France 



United Kingdom 

 Guatemala 

 British Honduras 

 Panama ... 



Fiscal 



United States 

 Germany ... 

 France 

 Spain 

 Panama 



United Kingdom 

 Italy 





17,469-700 

 456-000 

 152,222-000 

 24,348-409 

 361-000 

 29 '000 



34,155-40 

 535-00 

 233,839-20 

 55,763-00 

 700-00 

 20-00 



Klgs... 



194,886-109 



$ 325,012-60 



Year 1903- 



-1904. 







48,364-000 

 2,028-000 

 99-000 

 245,083-500 

 11,596-000 

 549-000 

 84-000 

 241-000 

 28-000 



69,808-00 

 3,271-00 

 160-00 

 416,431-60 

 29,406-00 

 1,140-00 

 175-00 

 275-00 

 100-00 





308,072-500 



$ 520,766-60 



Year 1904- 



-1905. 







362,710-098 

 117,439-690 

 10,349-000 

 616-000 

 5,989-000 

 92-000 

 308-000 



565,575'49 

 113,423-00 

 28,254-00 

 1,200-00 

 9,036-80 

 350-00 

 985-00 



Klgs... 



497,503-788 



$ 718,824-29 



(Sd,) LUCIEN J JEROMK 



