Sept. 1896.] BARLEY SUPPLY OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. 117 



ceeded a million cwts. on only three occasions. In the four years 

 1890-93 they ranged from less than a quarter to one half of 

 that quantity ; in the two succeeding years, however, there was 

 an increase. 



The imports of barley from France have been characterised 

 by greater fluctuations than has been the case with those from 

 Germany, but there has been a marked falling-off in the ship- 

 ments of French barley to this country since 1886. In nine of 

 the twelve years prior to 1887 the imports were over a million 

 cwts., but since 1886 they have only twice just exceeded that 

 quantity, while, with these exceptions, the maximum consign- 

 ment in any year has been 625,000 cwts. in 1887, and the 

 minimum, 178,000 cwts. in 1894. 



Scandinavian barley has been in recent years a steadily 

 diminishing factor in the foreign supply of this grain. The 

 bulk is contributed by Denmark, whence the annual imports 

 into the United Kingdom in the nine years 1875 to 1883 ranged 

 generally from 750,000 cwts. to just over a million cwts., except 

 in three of these years, 1878-80, for which the annual average 

 was two million cwts. During the last six years the exports 

 of Danish barley to this country have fluctuated between 

 158,000 cwts. in 1895 and 676,000 cwts. in 1894, but the 

 average annual supply has been only 360,000 cwts. Until 1888 

 the yearly shipments of Swedish barley to the United Kingdom 

 amounted, as a rule, to between 300,000 cwts. and 600,000 cwts., 

 but in 1889 they suddenly dropped to 65,000 cwts., and they 

 have since shown little signs of recovery ; last year only 

 11,000 cwts. of this grain were imported from Sweden. 



Austria is a comparatively new competitor in the barley 

 trade of the United Kingdom ; before 1883 her exports to this 

 country were insignificant. The first consignment of any conse- 

 quence was made in that year, when we received 368,000 cwts., 

 but, although this quantity has since been exceeded on six occa- 

 sions, the trade statistics of this country afford little evidence 

 of any development in the imports of barley from Austrian 

 territories. 



For some years prior to 1878 Turkey contributed annually 

 upwards of three million cwts. to our supply of foreign barley, 

 but soon after the outbreak of the Russo-Turkish war the 

 imports of barley from Turkey fell considerably, and for 

 several years they were comparatively unimportant. A tem- 

 porary recovery took place in 1883, but it is only since 1890 

 that the yearly consignments have approached the level they 

 attained before 1878. The annual imports of barley from 

 Roumania have never fallen below a million cwts. for the past 

 18 years. In 1882 and 1883 they amounted to 5,720,000 cwts. 

 and 4,461,000 cwts. respectively ; but they have since ranged 

 from two million to three million cwts., except in 1884, 1892, and 

 1893, when the annual importation was about 1,400,000 cwts. 



Two countries which have recently augmented their consign- 

 ments of barley to British markets are the United States and 



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