24 



INDIAN TRADE IN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCE. [June 189C. 



the exports of 1898-94 was as much as 44 per cent, in excess of 

 that of the preceding year; in 1894-95 the value was 15 per 

 cent, less than in 1893-94. For linseed the demand in England 

 was inactive and prices excessively low, owing to the great 

 abundance of all kinds of cattle food, and to the competition of 

 Argentine linseed. 



The export of wool during the seven previous years had 

 fluctuated between 21 and nearly 25 million lbs. in weight. 

 In 1894-95 the quantity exported amounted to 31,150,000 lbs., 

 and these unusually large exports are ascribed to speculative 

 business arising out of the conditions of exchange. It is 

 said to be improbable that the speculations were very profitable, 

 for prices kept moving downward throughout the year until 

 they reached a very low point. 



The exports of tanned hides and skins, mainly from Madras, 

 exceeded 315,000 cwts. In both the larger hides and the 

 smaller skins, chiefly goat and kid, there was a great increase in 

 the trade, accompanying a similar increase in the export of raw 

 hides and skins. 



These skins are tanned in the Madras Presidency, and are 

 exported thence and from Bombay to the United Kingdom, 

 Belgium, France, the United States, and the Straits, the bulk of 

 the exports being to the United Kingdom. 



The exports of tea still continue to increase, the quantity 

 shipped in 1894-95 having been 129,099,000 lbs. or nearly 

 double the exports of 1885-86, when 68,784,000 lbs. were 

 exported. The United Kingdom continues to be the great 

 market for Indian tea, as much as 92 per cent, of the exports of 

 last year having been shipped thither. 



Owing partly to a small crop, the exports of cotton from 

 India in 1894-95 represented the smallest shipment in any year 

 of the past 14. The quantity exported was only 3,385,000 cwts, 

 as compared with 4,789,000 cwts. in each of the two previous 

 years. The quantity of Indian cotton taken by the United 

 Kingdom gets less and less, from year to year. As recently as 

 1887-88 the proportion of the whole exports sent to the United 

 Kingdom was as much as 40 per cent., even though the Suez 

 Canal had long been operating to bring the continental markets 

 into direct communication with India. Since then the propor- 

 tion has been gradually reduced until in 1894-95 it was less than 

 10 per cent. 



