304 



Exports of Agricultural Produce. 



trade is mainly with France and Germany, and its aggregate 

 annual value has not exceeded ;^200,ooo, except in 1895, when 

 it amounted to ;£'3 56,000. 



In the class of cereals and cereal products the principal 

 articles of export are flour and malt. Of the former about 

 280,000 cwts. are exported annually, mainly to the Channel 

 Islands, Malta, and Gibraltar. The Netherlands, Australasia, 

 and British South Africa are our chief customers for malt, 

 of which the total exports amounted in 1 894-96 to an average 

 of 87,000 cwts., of the value of ^164,000, The export trade in 

 home-grown wheat, barley, oats, beans, and peas is of 

 very small dimensions, the aggregate annual value of the 

 shipments of these articles having only once exceeded 



100,000 in the past three years. British Possessions take 

 the bulk of the consignments, but France and Belgium were 

 debited with over 10,000 cwts. of wheat, and Denmark with 

 from 6,000 to 7,000 cwts. of barley in each year. The trade 

 in oats is subject to great fluctuations ; last year the exports 

 amounted to 94,227 cwts., of which about 75 per cent, went 

 to the Channel Islands; in 1895 there was, however, a total 

 exportation of 23 3,000 cwts., and of 251,000 cwts. in 1894, due 

 to large, and apparently exceptional, demands from Italy 

 and France respectively. 



British potatoes were formerly exported in considerable 

 quantities to the United States, but since the introduction ot 

 the McKinley tariff this trade has almost disappeared. As 

 late as 1894 the transatlantic shipments from this country 

 amounted to nearly 850,000 cwts. of the value of ;^i67,ooo 

 but last year they had dropped to 1,000 cwts., valued at ;^I43 

 In 1896 the export of potatoes weighed in the aggregate 

 341,000 cwts., of which Spain and the Canaries took nearly 

 43,000 cwts., while the bulk of the remainder went to British 

 Possessions, including the Channel Islands. There is a 

 small exportation of English hops, mainly to British 

 Possessions, but the usual extent of this trade is only about 

 10,000 cwts. yearly. Seeds are shipped in large quantities 

 to the Continent and Australasia, the average annual outward 

 consignments m 1894-96 amounted to over twelve thousand 

 tons, of the value of ^275,000. 



