June 1896.] BEET-SUGAR INDUSTRY ON THE CONTINENT. 



17 



fixed at 3s. 5d. per cwt. on raw sugar, and 6s. 9d. per cwt. on 

 refined sugar, while the excise duties were reduced to 2s. Id. and 

 2s. lid. per cwt. respectively. 



The protection thus afforded to home producers is stated by 

 Danish authorities to have been the means of saving the industry 

 at a critical period of its existence, and to have enabled the 

 manufacturers of beet-sugar to consolidate and even to extend 

 their business in the face of keen competition with the sugar of 

 other countries. 



In considering the position of the beet-sugar industry in 

 Denmark, there is one point which should not be overlooked, and 

 that is the economic basis upon which the industry is organised. 

 The refiners, the manufacturers of raw sugar, and the cultivators 

 of beet have, with few exceptions, combined for the maintenance 

 of their common interests. One of the largest sugar factories, 

 Nykjobing factory, is now run on co-operative principles by 

 the beet-growers. But while the progress made hitherto may 

 be partly attributed to that faculty for industrial association 

 which is so characteristic of the Danes, it is worthy of notice 

 that the development, so far as the raw sugar factories are 

 concerned, has been intensive rather than extensive. There has 

 been no increase in the number of these establishments since 

 1885, but the out-turn of raw > sugar has been considerably 

 augmented, owing largely to the introduction of improved 

 processes of manufacture which enable a greater quantity of 

 saccharine matter to be extracted from a given quantity of beet. 



The climate of Denmark is considered to be less favourable 

 for the cultivation of sugar-beet than that of France and 

 Central Germany, and it is believed that the industry, which 

 continues to be limited in extent, does not yield much profit. 



In Sweden the manufacture of beet sugar has made rapid 

 strides in the past five years, but the industry is small compared 

 with that of the countries already mentioned. The number of 

 factories operating in 1893-94 was ten, and the quantity of beet 

 consumed in these establishments in the year amounted to 

 374,000 tons, from which 43,000 tons of raw sugar were pro- 

 duced. Five years earlier, in 1889-90, there were only four 

 factories in existence and the total output of raw sugar was 

 14,600 tons. 



With the development of the native industry there has been a 

 diminution in the imports of sugar, but this decline by no means 

 corresponds with the increase in the home production, owing 

 largely to the fact that the consumption of sugar in the country 

 is steadily increasing. The net imports of sugar of ail kinds com- 

 puted as raw sugar into Sweden in 1893 amounted to 31,920 tons, 

 as compared with 40,759 tons in 1889, and 42,232 tons in 1890. 



The Swedish excise duty on raw sugar is 6s. Q\d. per cwt., and 

 is charged on the assumption that 100 lbs. of beet will produce 7 \ 

 lbs. of raw sugar. The customs duty on ordinary unrefined raw 

 sugar is just double the excise, or 13s. 3<i. per cwt. 



O 91921. B 



