SPECIAL REPORTS

ON

VARIOUS BRANCHES OF TRADE.

THE SUGAR TRADE OF THE UNITED STATES.

Annual Review, showing the Import and Consumption of Raw Sugar in the United States, for the year ended December 31st, 1896, compared with the previous four years.

GENERAL STATEMENT.

RECEIPTS OF FOREIGN SUGAR IN THE UNITED STATES FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 1895, COMPARED WITH THE PREVIOUS FOUR YEARS.

ANNUAL REVIEW OF THE SUGAR TRADE OF THE UNITED STATES.

The year 1896 opened with bright prospects for those engaged in the sugar trade, but its close recorded many disappointed hopes and disastrous business ventures, notwithstanding the fact that more sugar was actually consumed in the country than during the year previous, and furthermore that the refining industry has continued to reflect prosperity. At the beginning of the year the statistical position of supplies, together with crop outlook in the largest producing countries, seemed to warrant the belief that the requirements of the world's consumption was likely to make a serious inroad upon the world's production, and that a very material advance in prices would be the natural result. The insurrection in the island of Cuba had seriously crippled the crop of that prolific source of supply, and there were grave doubts whether it would be possible to obtain over 200,000 tons of raw sugar from a locality that had produced the year previous over a million tons, in addition to which a considerable falling off in the European beet crop was foreshadowed. As a consequence the situation commenced to attract the attention of speculators, active trading ensued, and prices for prompt as well as future delivery steadily advanced. Cargoes afloat from distant ports in the East Indies freely changed hands at handsome profits, and the business in beet contracts assumed large pro

portions, especially in the markets of Europe where this kind of trading was by far the most active. But as frequently the case when speculation has run riot, the discovery was suddenly made that the market was heavily oversold, and then the rush to liquidate caused a collapse that brought widespread disaster. Paper profits melted away like snow before a summer sun, and prices gradually declined until they touched a point lower than had prevailed when the upward movement commenced. It was then discovered that the expected deficiency had been adjusted by an unexpected falling off in consumption, so that although crop supplies had been smaller, there was still more than enough to go around. The disaster was felt more severely in the markets of Europe than in this country, but nevertheless there were failures and heavy losses here. Although the wide fluctuation in values is perhaps the most important feature of the market during the year, it is not less important to note with what comparative ease the requirements of consumption in this country have been supplied, notwithstanding the virtual failure of the Cuban crop. In times past the product of that island has not only found a market almost exclusively in the United States, but has been our chief reliance for a supply of raw sugar. There has been a deficiency of at least half a million tons in the quantity received during 1896, and yet refiners have experienced no inconvenience whatever in supplying their wants at ruling market values. The deficiency has been chiefly made up by larger importations of cane sugar from the island of Java and beet sugar from Europe. Very naturally the course of events in Cuba is being watched with keen interest in this country, not only because of its close proximity geographically, but because also of the close commercial relations that have always existed, while our natural sympathies are with those who are struggling for independence and freedom. Those who have a reliable knowledge of the existing condition of affairs in the island are of opinion that the days of Spanish authority are numbered, and that sooner or later the insurgents will prevail. However near or distant such a consummation may be, the sugar industry of the island has been so seriously crippled that it will cut but a small figure as a producer in the sugar statistics of the world until peace has become an assured fact; but when such an event has transpired no more attractive field for the investment of capital could be offered.

Still another important event in this history of the past year has been the change in administration and expected benefits that are likely to come to the sugar industry through the adoption of a protective tariff policy. Tariff changes are always dreaded by those engaged in commercial pursuits, because of the unsettling influence upon business affairs; but many consider that the tariff that has been in operation for the past few years has been unfair to the refining industry, and hence will welcome a change that will give greater protection to what has become one of our most important industries. It is no doubt true that upon equal terms our refiners could successfully compete with any others in the world; but it is neither fair nor just that our refiners should have to struggle against