22 INDIAN TRADE IN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCE. [June 18915. 



other hand, with unusually abundant harvests of wheat, the 

 United States presented such plenteous supplies to the world as 

 to send prices down to what might be thought the lowest 

 possible level if one did uot constantly see that there were 

 still lower depths of prices at which wheat would be grown and 

 sold. The Argentine Republic, too, has rapidly come to the 

 front as an exporter of wheat, 1,608,000 tons having been 

 shipped from that country in 1894. In the presence of such 

 conditions the Indian export trade last year, (1894-95) seemed 

 to be approaching the vanishing point. But abundant supplies 

 and unprofitable prices do not permanently prevail in the 

 wheat market more than in any other market. Since the close 

 of the year there has been renewed activity in the trade." 



The exports of wheat from Calcutta fell so heavily that the 

 trade was quite insignificant. That there will be a material 

 recovery from this great fall is said to be certain, but it is held 

 to be equally certain that Calcutta will never again take such a 

 prominent position in the shipment of wheat as in the early 

 days of the trade. The great sources of the supply of wheat 

 for export lie in the fields of North- Western and Central India,, 

 and the greatest part of the grain, so far as it is intended for 

 export, must find its way to Karachi and Bombay. In 1894-95 

 quite five-sixths of the whole trade was done at Karachi. 



The principal destinations of Indian wheat in the last four 

 years were as follows : — '■ 



Countries. 



1891-92. 



1892-93. 



1893-94. 



1894-95. 





Thousands 



Thousands 



Thousands 



Thousands 





of Cwts. 



of Cwts. 



of Cwts. 



of Cwts. 



To the United Kingdom 



12,345 



7,413 



6,093 



4,768 



„ France - 



6,024 



1,724 



1,913 



525 



„ Egypt 



4,858 



2,045 



1,687 



440 



„ Belgium - 



4,655 



1,226 



1,452 



594 



„ Italy - 



1,062 



689 



409 



3 



Germany - 



663 



902 



38 



216 



,, Holland - - 



523 



386 



356 



242 



The quantity shipped to these countries amounted to 98 per 

 cent, of the whole exports of the year. Less than half of the 

 exports of Indian rice is consumed in Europe, but the case is 

 different with Indian wheat, of which only a trifling fraction is 

 consumed elsewhere than in Europe, mainly in the United 

 Kingdom. The large amount of wheat which was apparently 

 sent to Egypt does not represent actual trade with that country, 

 the grain only going to Port Said for orders. 



With the decline in the exports of wheat the trade in wheat- 

 flour also declined, but in this article the fall was comparatively 

 slight, and the trade may be regarded as having reached a 

 satisfactory stage of progress, though there is reported to be 

 a prospect of much greater development. The exports of 



