The Hawaiian gazette., 1870-12-21
Sugar Buyers


1t NAV, without argument be conceded that
the risks Of sugar plantations on these Islands
wonld be lessened, if the planter were able to
sell his product in Honolulu, instead Of sending
it abroad II is also evident that buyers of sugar
by the cargo, in our ports, are not as plenty as
plovers and that it is not as easy to manufacture
a buyer as it is keg of No. sugar The first
step, therefore, is TO catch the hare. and nd
mitting that be has been caught the next step
to make bargain with him-is full OF difficulty
also.
The buyer in his calculations. has to assume
all the risks. charges and contingencies of the
] transportation TO- and sale in a foreign market
and also margin for his profits. His offer per
pound for sugar, as the result. would Of course be
less than the plantations have realized heretofore
I But the margin ior profits would be such hard
point to agree upon. with the planters, that only
small part of their crops would be sold here,
/ and buyers consequently. would soen disappear
/ from the field.
1t is pertinent to this point to recall the ex-
/ perienee of the only wholesale buyer that has
/ put in an appearance here.-the San Francisco
/ Refinery. The discussions as to the price offered,
the dissatisfaction expressed over the conjecture
/ that the buyer was realizing good profit, and
the uuwilliogness of the sellers to take living
/ price. in preference to shipping on owners
/ account are points well remembered by all con-
nec.ed with the sugar interests. The result Of
/ that buyers effort was TO be driven of the
/ beach" and his return as well as that Of other
| Reiners to Manila and Batavia tor their raw
sugars.
/ There have not been wanting buyers among
our own peope,-merchants and others with
| debts abroad to be paid. who have been willing
to send sugar instead of exchange. but they have
met with the same dificulty-the allowance of a
sufficient margia,-and whatever may have been
their disposition to ship sugars. their experience
of losses has been sufficient to put them also out
of the field Yet this ought TO be the regular
course OF busness,-the trader to pay his foreign
debts with shipments of sugar, and the planter
selling it to him in Honolulu. The yearly ex-
hibt of the Custom House shows that this could
be done and that the relation of exports to i'm
/ ports is favorable to it.
/ 1t will be hard to persuade foreign buyers to
cougregate here, if We cannot sell sugars at such
prices as to make it object to our own business
men to pay their debts abroad with it.
Without the advantages possessed by other
sugar-producing countries: Of crops measured by
the hundreds of thousands of tons; of large pop
ulations. and consequently large import trade
to supply their wants of neighborhood to conn
tries demanding heavy supplies Of sugar, or near
ness to commercial ocean routes to the same I;
with hold upon markets in which over-supply
is an exception, and prices therefore in the main,
steady the chances to sell our Island sugars in
Honolulu, are reduced simply to the scope Of
individual speculation. The buyer must be of a
very hopeful and confident temperament; or he
must get sugars at prices very disturbing to the
planters views
1t will not answer to depend upon monthly
auction sales extensively advertised here and
abroad to create buyers. except the planters are
prepared to sacrifice entirely the next two or
three years crops. and that without any reason
able prospect of final success or can stand on
the footing OF other sugar growers of the world
and be content with a net average price of 42i
to ; cents per pound for their sugars. by the crop