Bacon Trade of Sweden and Denmark. 



243 



package of fertiliser exposed for sale a small quantity, and 

 send the same to him for analysis, to see whether it agrees 

 Avith the certificate attached to the package. 



Bacon Trade of Sweden and Denmark. 



Mr. Consul Duff, in his Report to the Foreign Office on 

 the trade of the Gothenburg District for 1897, observes with 

 reference to the Swedish bacon trade that the market for 

 Wiltshire-cut bacon was very steady all through the past 

 year, and that prices advanced about 30 per cent, on 

 those of 1896, and 35 per cent in comparison witli 1895, but 

 Swedish exporters were unable to take advantage of this 

 improved state of the market. 



The export from Sweden in 1895 was the highest on 

 record, and amounted to 200,000 cwts. During 1896, when 

 prices improved, the export declined to 140,000 cwts., while 

 during the year 1897, when prices were 35 per cent higher 

 than in 1895, the exports onl}^ reached 80,000 cwts., or a 

 decline of 60 per cent. The reason for this state of affairs is 

 explained as follows : It is impossible to raise pigs profitably 

 without access to cheap feeding stuffs, and the failure of the 

 crop of oats during the last two years has forced many to 

 abandon breeding altogether. 



Denmark, according to Mr. Duff's report exported 1,000,000 

 cwts. of bacon in 1895, 1,220,000 cwts. in 1896, and in 1897, 

 1,020,000 cwts., thus reaping ample advantage from the rise 

 in 1897. In that country the export of bacon has become 

 quite a national industry, the figures for 1890 being 560,000 

 cwts., against 1,020,000 cwts. in 1897. 



In both Sweden and Denmark dairy offal (separated milk) 

 is largely used for fattening swine, but the chief food is 

 grain, consisting of maize, barley, etc., which is imported 

 from America and Russia into Denmark free of duty, and 

 consequently renders the farmer independent of the home 

 crop. In Sweden, where an import duty of 2^". id. per cwt. 



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