German Potato Products. 



233 



Towards the end of 1897 the extensive demand for glucose 

 — caused by the deficiency in the German fruit crop and the 

 consequent large orders for moist starch from inland glucose 

 factories — enabled the home manufacturers to abstain from 

 competing abroad, as they found that they could do a more 

 profitable business in Germany itself. It is thought, how- 

 ever, that this abstention may afford foreign competitors an 

 opportunity for introducing their products in such outside 

 markets, and that the Germans may thus find themselves to 

 some extent at a disadvantage in the future. 



Cash prices for potato-flour and starch, of which only a 

 small stock remained on hand at the end of the year, were 

 on December 31st about 9s. 5d. to 9s. 8d. per cwt. for prime 

 coarse-grained potato-starch ; 9s. 2d. to 9s. 5d. per cwt. for 

 prime potato-flour within the Customs Union, and 9s. 

 to 9s. 2d. per cwt. in the free port. The stock on hand at 

 the end of 1897 is estimated to have been 18,200 sacks, 

 against 25,400 sacks in 1896. 



The prices of dextrine were naturally subject to the same 

 variations as those of starch and flour. They stood at iis. 6d. 

 per cwt. f.o.b. Stettin, at the commencement of the year, and 

 I2s. 6d. per cwt. at the end of last December. The exports of 

 dextrine did not experience so serious a fall as did those of 

 starch and flour, a circumstance which is ascribed to the 

 difficulty of finding a substitute for German dextrine in other 

 countries. The annual exports of dextrine from Germany 

 during recent years have been as follows : — 



Not quite half of the total German exports of this article 

 have on the average been shipped from Hamburg during 

 recent years, and it would appear that nearly all the decrease 

 in 1897 as compared with 1896 was in Hamburg shipments ; 

 ocher ports sending much the same quantity as usual. 



Grape sugar in solid or liquid form (or, as it is called in 

 Germany, starch-sugar) is only exported in small quantities, 

 but its consumption in Germany itself is considerable, and 



Cwts. 



Cwts. 



1888 

 1889 

 1890 

 1891 

 1892 



141,399 

 168,504 

 185,676 

 118,187 

 85,663 



1893 

 1894 

 1895 

 1896 

 1897 



144,689 

 144,564 



171,384 

 217,782 

 194,003 



