3'4 
THE TROPICAL AtSrRIOULTURlST, 
[November t, 1891. 
previous years, but pessibly the present year may see 
a further advanoe. 
The exports of the last eight years are given 
beiow ; — 
(OOO’s omitted.) 
lb. 
E. 
1883-84 
69,912 
4,083,880 
1884.85 
64,162 
4,044,769 
1885-86 
68,784 
4,308,133 
1886-87 
78,703 
4.727,992 
1887-88 
... 87,514 
5,174,440 
1888-89 
97,011 
6,267, .316 
1889-90 
... 103,760 
5.277,660 
1890-91 
... 107,015 
5,219,233 
The heavy fall in price which marked the year 
1889-90 was sncceeded by a further fall last year 
for the higher qualities of tea, the fall oc- 
curring during the mouths when exchange was 
raising. The average prices realized at the 
auction sales in Calcutta during the last three years 
were as foUowg, in annas and pie per pound: — 
1888 89. 1889-90. 1890 91. 
Orange (and broken 
orange) Pekoe 
... 12-4 
11-8 
11-2? 
Broken Pekoe 
... 10-3 
9-9 
8-101 
Pekoe 
... 8-1 
T-5 
7-2 
Pekoe Souchong 
... 6-3 
67 
5-8)^ 
Broken ditto 
... 5-10 
5-0 
5-3jt 
Pekoe Fannings 
... 0-6 
6-7 
5-10 
Other low class 
... 4-11 
4 8 
6-2 
The London market 
continues to 
absorb 
the bulk 
of the exports, but there is a noteworthy increase 
in the exports to Australia which have more than 
donbled in four years. An export of fire million 
pounds is not much after ten years of exertion to 
secure a market in colonies which consume tea very 
largely, but it may be taken as an indiostion that the 
merits of Indian tea are now nndetstoo.l there and 
that the AustraUans will no longt r be content to drink 
China tra merely because it is cheap. 
The exports are as follows, in pounds t990’s omit- 
ted:) — 
1887-88. 
1888-80. 
1889-90. 
1890 91. 
United Kingdom 
84,182 
93,222 
98,731 
100,209 
Australia 
2,172 
2.880 
3,419 
5,119 
Persian Gulf ... 
324 
467 
1,200 
1,311 
United States... 
54 
155 
103 
79 
Canada 
14 
86 
61 
China 
"c 
19 
33 
01 
While the Imports of Indian tea into Kngland c m- 
tinue to increase, those of Chinese tea continue to 
diminish, but while China is being gradually 
bnt surely thrust out of the Bnglish market, 
another aiid perhaps a more formi.lable competitor 
has stopped in. The advanoe made by Ceylon lea in 
recent years is little ahott of marvellous. It 
is interesting to note how completely the po.sition 
in England of Indian and Ceylon teas with respect 
to China tea has been reversed. Seven years ago tlie 
imports of China tea were more than double the im- 
porta of Indian and Ceylon teas. At the end of seven 
ears wo find the imports of Chinn tea to be about 
alf the imports from India aud Ooylon. The follow^ 
ing are the imports from Indi.v, Ceylon, and Obina 
into England in the lost seven years (quantity stated 
in lb, OOO'b omitted):— 
From India From Ceylon From China 
1884 ... 63,208 ... 2,211 ... 143,771 
188.6 ... 14.382 ... 4,212 ... 139, «7.'! 
1886 ... 73,467 ... 7,M4 .. 146 308 
1887 84,645 ... 13,062 ... 110,709 
1888 ... 89,874 ... 22,609 ... 105 7.35 
1889 ... 95,384 ... 32,673 ... 88,568 
1890 ... 101,771 ... 42,491 ... 73,713 
Thusindia and Ceylon furnished last year two-thirds 
of the imports, India's share being about, 46jf per cent 
while China furnislied only one-third. I'wcii'y years 
ago China's aharo was as ninth as 83 pi r cent; but 
twenty years ago Ceylon sent no tea to England and it 
had only one percent of the imports as latoly as 1884. 
It is said, with rel'eronoe to the remarks in paragraph 
21 of this review, that the quality of Ceylon tea is 
detericrating a. d, with a poor soil, will otutioue to 
deteriorate ; and that therefore the Indian planter 
has nothing to approhoud from his Ceylon competitor. 
It is undesirable to be over confident in commercial 
competition, and it may bo expedient to reflect that 
the Coylo:i planter, who has already made such a 
success of his business, is hardly likely to make the 
mistake which is destroying the Chiuese tea industry. 
There is also no suflicient evidence as yet tliat quality 
is deteriorating : on the contrary, Messrs. Stenning 
and Inskip, iu their review of the tea trade ol 1890, 
say in regard to Ceylon tea: “ Quality has shewn a 
distinct improvement on that of last year, the fer- 
mentaliou having been hotter than hitbett ). Flavoury 
teas have oomraanded very satisfactory prices.” 
The incroBBD in the exports of Indian tea (and 
all but a fractional portion ia exported) was m 
round numbers, for the eight years ending June 
1891, from 00 raillions ol pounds to 107 millions, 
a good rata of increase, bnt entirely distanced by 
the Ceylon product, which showed an export in 
1888 of only 1,6-11,810 Ib.; while the ligures for 1890 
wore 40,901,554 lb. Of course our ratio of inorease will 
now diminish, although we are going ahead at a 
rate which demands every possible effort to keep up 
quality and open new markets. In the Customs 
value of the Indian tea exported, the inorease in the 
eight years has been liiilo more than a million 
of lOrupee ponuds,— I{xS,219,000 in 1890-91 
against 11x4,08.3,000 in 1883 8-1. The downward 
oourse of prices in the past three years has been 
at least as severely felt by Indian producers as 
by our own planters. All wise economies must 
be excroised by the latter, and we have emphasised 
the word “ wise,” booause we btlieve that a wise 
liberality in regard to the beat manufacturing 
applianoea and also in the application in many 
oases of the beat fertilizers to our soil, will be 
our best policy, even in the light of economy. 
Of course our friends across the water take the 
most unfavourable view of our soil; and it cannot 
be denied that in cases where old coffee plantations 
wore converted into tea estates, the Svil does want 
fortifying, and so with some of our older estates opened 
in forest. But wo are persuaded that a forcing 
and dump climate was, more than defeolive soil, 
the cause of the deterioration in quality of our teas 
exported early in this year. The meteoro- 
logioal conditions favoured quantity at the 
(xpenoe of quality.— Of Indian tea sent to 
the United States direot.the aocount is as “beggarly” 
as in the case of the Ceylon product, the quan- 
tity being only 79,000 lb., against over five 
millions to Australia. We do not kuow what 
quantity of Indian and Caylon tea roaches the 
United States from Britain, but it cannot be 
much, in view of unfavourable lisoul laws. Tea is 
passed f ee of duty, we believe, only when imported 
from its souroa of prodnotion. It is amusing to 
find that while China tea is still imported into 
India (chiefly for consumption beyond the bounds 
of the empire), Indian tea to the amount of 
61,000 lb. went to China in 1890, an exactly 
equal quantity being taken by Canada. Of the 
lea sent to the Persian Gulf, to which some Ceylon 
tea also goes, all is not consumed in Turkish or 
P(:reian districts. The foolish as well as iniquitous 
exaotions by the Amir of Afghanistan as well as 
the prohibitive policy of the Bussians has diver- 
ted much of what was formerly an important 
trans-frontier trade. Mr. O’Oonor thus notices the 
export trade of India with Persia; — 
“Exports of foreign goods to Persia are very much 
larger than those of Indian goods. 
Foreign. Indian. 
Kx. Kx. 
1889*0 ... 1,226,60.3 497,102 
1890-91 ... 1,319,957 420,986 
The inorease under the first of these heads was 
mainly due to an expansion iu tho tea trade, Chinese 
