174 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[SeI'1'.  1B95. 
tioiis  will  no  tloiibl  be  closely  scanned  by  all  who 
are  looking  to  coll'ee  as  the  safe  inodnct  of 
the  future : — 
Extract  from  “The  Export  World  and  Herald'' 
(published  by  Flint,  Eddy  Co.  Neio  York)  dated 
U9th  April  1895. 
Coffee. — As  the  question  of  the  future  value  of 
cffee  is  very  interesting  to  many  of  our  readers,  we 
publish  below  an  article  prepared  by  a gentleman 
long  familiar  with  foreign  commerce  in  this  article, 
The  whose  opinions  cannot  fail  to  be  interesting, 
men  problem  is  a very  complex  one,  and  the  argu* 
and  ts  in  favor  of  his  views  are  certainly  most  strongly 
put. 
The  idea  prevailing  in  some  quarters  that  ruling 
vaues  of  coffee  are  too  high,  because  there  has  been 
a large  shrink^e  in  the  price  of  nearly  every  other 
product,  is  entirely  wrong  if  values  are  governed  at 
all  by  supply  and  demand.  We  purpose  showing  in 
this  article  that  the  consumption  of  coffee  throughout 
the  world  has  been  and  is  steadily  increasing,  while 
the  supply  contfnues  almost  without  appreciable 
change.  There  can  therefore,  be  no  permanent 
decline  if  any,  in  the  price  of  coffee,  unless  the  yield 
oi  several  consecutive  crops  be  in  excess  of  yearly 
requirements.  Our  figures  show  that  the  consumption 
and  production  are  almost  equalized.  The  stocks  in 
all  countries,  about  the  middle  of  the  present  year 
will  probably  show  very  little  difference  as  compared 
with  the  same  period  of  the  preceding  year,  while 
during  the  season  of  1895  to  1896  the  visible  supply 
will  be  smaller. 
A careful  study  of  coffee  statistics  enables  us  to 
present  the  following  data  which,  we  are  sure  will  be 
interesting  to  our  readers  in  coffee  producing  countries. 
The  production  of  the  world  in  1893-1894  was  9,110,000 
bags,  and  careful  estunates  show  the  probable  yield  in 
the  following  years  will  be:  1894-1895  11,120,000  bugs, 
1895-1896  10,260,000  bags,  divided  as  follows  : — 
1893-94. 
1894-95. 
1895-96. 
Africa,  Mocha, 
etc.  . . 
150,100 
199,000 
200,000 
Ceylon 
26,300 
38,000 
39,000 
Hayti 
426,200 
398,000 
148,000 
Java 
433,100 
799,aX) 
750,000 
Meuado 
5,000 
1,C00 
4,0(0 
Padang 
, , 
89,700 
47.000 
50,000 
Macassar,  Timor,  etc. , , 
30,000 
42,000 
39,000 
. East  Indies  and 
Manila 
270,000 
250,000 
298,000 
- Central  America  and 
Mexico 
, , 
1,466,300 
1,249,000 
1,348,000 
Colombia  and 
Vene- 
zuela 
1,206,900 
800,000 
1,000,000 
West  Indies 
, , 
185,800 
200,000 
224,000 
Bahia 
365,000 
300,000 
350,000 
Santos 
1,767,000 
4,000,000 
3,. 500,000 
Rio,  Victoria 
Ceara 
and 
• • 
2,697,000 
2,800,000 
2,000,000 
Total  ..9,110,000  11,120,000  10,260,000 
The  Consumpticu  of  Coffee  in  1891  was  11,350,000 
bags,  as  follows 
United  States  .. 
Bags, 
1,300,000 
Asia  Minor 
Bags. 
..  65,000 
France 
1,110,000 
Spain 
. . 100,000 
Belgium 
Germany 
390,000 
Portugal 
..  35,000 
2,110,(X>0 
Egypt 
..  85,000 
Austria  • . . 
600,000 
25,000 
Bulgaria 
..  15,(X)0 
. . 280,000 
Canada 
Sweden 
Great  Britain  . . 
205,000, 
135,000j 
is  N orvvay 
. . 150,000 
Switzerland 
Ij^Pacific  Coast 
. . 145,000 
Denmark 
120,000 
Holland 
. . 520,000 
Italy 
200,000 
Australia 
. . 335,000 
Turkey  .. 
140,000 
Russia 
. . 200,000 
Roumania  • . 
25,000 
Greece 
..  16,000 
Servia  •• 
11,000 
Value  over  30  million  stg. 
.11,350,000 
While  the  production  is  subjected,  from  natural 
causes,  to  frequent  lluctuations,  the  consumption  has 
been  continuously  on  the  increase  as  may  be  veri- 
fied by  constilting  the  tables  of  deliveries  in  the 
United  States,  France,' 'Itelgium  and  Austria,  which 
show  that,  from  the  year  1867,  when  the  aggregate 
average  yearly  deliveries  amounted  to  4,200,000  bags, 
they  have  gradually  but  constantly  increased,  until 
at  the  close  of  1894  they  footed  9,520,000  bags,  tliis 
being  more  than  double  in  the  comparatively  short 
space  of  27  years. 
A greater  increase  has  been  shown  in  the  average 
annual  consumption  per  capita,  of  coffee  in  the 
United  States,  than  of  almost  any  other  article,  ex- 
cept sugar,  that  of  coffee  having  increased  from  5 01 
pounds  in  1867  to  8'25  pounds  in  1893.  This  is 
largely  attributed  to  the  improved  methods  of 
preparing  coffee  for  retailing  which  presents  it  to 
the  consumer  in  more  convenient  form  than  was  the 
case  several  years  ago. 
The  outlook,  therefore,  would  seem  to  be  for  at 
least  stationary  values  for  some  tjme  to  come.  The 
figures  given  here  certainly  prove  that  present  prices, 
rather  than  being  fictitious,  as  some  would  have  them 
appear,  are  in  reality  on  a sound  commercial 
basis. 
♦ 
THE  RUSSIAN  GOVERNMENT  AND 
INDIAN  TEA. 
The  Russian  Government  has  lately  removed  the 
prohibition  that  has  hitherto  existed  on  the  importa- 
tion through  Batoum  of  Indian  teas  intended  for 
E laces  in  Central  Asia.  Until  now  this  trade  has 
een  carried  on  tln-ough  the  ports  of  the  Persian 
Gulf,  but  since  the  new  decree  has  been  issued  it 
is  being  sent  from  Bombay  to  Port  Said  for  tranship- 
ment there  to  Russian  steamers  pi-oceeding  to  the 
Black  Sea. — M.  Jfail. 
PLANTING  AND  PRODUCE. 
Tea  Companies'  Shakes  as  Investments. — Under 
this  head  there  was  an  article  in  a recent  number 
of  the  Economist,  together  with  a table  showing  tlie 
dividends  distributed  of  the  principal  companies,  the 
past  and  present  market  valuation  of  their  shares, 
and  the  yield  obtainable  on  the  basis  of  last  year's 
distributions.  Says  the  writer  in  the  Economist : 
" In  view  of  the  constantly  diminishing  return  obtain- 
able upon  ‘ giltedged  ’ securities,  on  the  one  hand, 
and  the  heavy  losses  sustained  by  investors  in  some 
other  classes  of  Stock  Exchange  issues,  on  the 
other  hand,  it  is  scarcely  to  be  wondered 
at  that  the  shares  of  several  varieties  of 
industrial  undertakings  have  grown  steadily 
in  public  favour.  . . . There  can  be  no 
doubt,  indeed,  that  the  tea  cultivating  in- 
dustry in  Assam  and  Ceylon  has  been  placed  upon 
a thoroughly  sound  basis,  with  the  result  that  so  far 
at  all  events,  as  the  United  Kingdom,  is  concerned, 
the  Chinese  article  has  been  practically  beaten  out 
of  the  field.  In  India  tea  planting  has  been  going 
on  for  about  fifty  years,  and  at  present  about  38U,(X)0 
acres  are  under  tea  cultivation,  representing  a capital 
of  something  like  £15,000,000 ; while  in  Ceylon,  where 
the  industry  dates  back  for  only  fifteen  years,  280,000 
acres  are  at  present  under  tea,  reiiresenting  a capital 
of  about  £11,000, 0(X).  The  fall  in  the  value  of  silver, 
the  introduction  of  machinery,  and  improved  means 
of  communication  have,  of  course,  greatly  assisted 
the  development  of  the  tea  estates  in  India 
and  Ceylon;  but  when  the  fullest  allowance  is 
made  for  these  advantages,  the  displacement  of 
the  Chinese  supplies  in  our  markets  has  been  not 
a little  remarkable.  Naturally  the  supersession  of 
the  Chinese  commodity  has  been  accompanied  by 
a very  great  reduction  in  the  market  values  of  tea, 
the  decline  in  the  past  ten  years  having  averaged 
about  fifty  per  cent,  but  the  reduction  in  the  cost 
of  production  has  more  than  compensated  for  the 
fall  in  price.  The  Indian  and  Ceylon  comiianics 
have,  therefore,  been  making  larger  profits  of  late, 
as  a rule,  last  year’s  results  having  been  benefited 
also  by  a slight  improvement  in  tlie  avoiage  price 
realised.  Until  quite  lately,  indeed,  dealings  in 
many  of  the  Indian  and  Ceylon  tea  shares  wore 
matters  of  private  negotiations,  but  gradually  the 
efforts  of  some  of  the  people  largely  interested  in 
the  industry  to  create  a market  for  the  shares  are 
meeting  with  success." 
