The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1898-02-01
COFFEE DRINKERS
Increasing Amount I'm
ported Into the u. S.
Island Contribution Is Still Very
Small Statistics for Year
1897.

Viewed in the light of comparison
with statistics OF other countries, the
Importation OF Hawaiian coffee into
the United States is small. Coffee has
been exported from the Islands in
varying quantities for the past 80 years.
Within the last five years the industry
has received a considerable impetus
from the success OF the planters who
have done the experimental work in
developing it, and from the consequent
opening up of large tracts of arabic
land
The high water mark in the exporta-
ton OF coffee since 1867 was reached in
1870, when 415,111 lbs. was exported.
Fifteen years later. in 1875. the ex-
ports had decreased to 1875 lbs. The
increase has been rapid since that time
until in 1897 the total exports of coffee
amounted TO 337.15S lbs, valued at s99,-
6S6.62. as against 255,655 lbs. in 1896.
But the people of the United States
are great coffee drinkers. The per
capita consumption in 1897 was 9.95
lbs. so that the amount sent from the
Islands made little appreciable differ
ence in the market. When it is con-
sidered that the coffee exported from
the Islands in 1897 would supply only
about "a, 600 people with their drink, or
a city with less than thousand more
inhabitants than there are in Sacra-
mento, Cal, the opportunities for Isl
and coffee in the United States are con-
siderable
According to the computations of the
Philadelphia Record, during the nine
months OF the calendar year ended
September 80, 1897. the imports of cof
fee into the United States amounted to
$50. O52. 92l lbs. of the value of S54,-
433, S92. against 44O,323, 337 lbs. of the
value OF $50, 400, 74S, in the correspond
ing months of 1896. The average in
voice cost TO the importers of the cof-
fee in 1896 was little more than 121s
cents a ID. In 1897 the average import
cost was a little more than 1O12 cents
a lb.
OF this coffee the bulk comes from
Brazil, the importations from which
country in the nine months of 1897,
amounted to 414.4S1. 4O7 lbs of the
value of s34.744.S37, against 2SS,793,-
IA lbs. of the value of s35, O94,56 in |
the corresponding nine months of 1896. |
The import cost of this Rio" coffee in
1896 was little over u cents lb. and |
in 1897 it was SO cents a lb.
The next largest supplies of coffee
are from other parts of South America,
the importations from those regions
having amounted in the nine months
Of 1897. 10 6O.271 900 lbs. valued at ST.
So, LIS. against 59.2O4, S34 lbs of the
value of sS,575.9S7, in the correspond
ing months of 1896 Quantities and
values Of importations from these
countries have not varied so much as
in the importations from Brazil, which
had an extraordinarily large crop in
1897. The next contributor of coffee to
this country is Central America, the
inportations from that region having
amounted TO 42,67O114 lbs. valued at
s6,214,S62, or nearly Is cents a lb. in
the nine months of 1874 slight in
crease over the importations in the cor
responding months of 1896. Next, Mex
leo sent in the nine months of 1897,
30,016,967 lbs. of the value of s4,574, 253
"a little more than Is cents a lb.
The total importations of Java" cof-
fee from the Netherlands and from the
East Indies in the nine months of 1897
amounted to 14,054, 16S lbs. of the value
of s2,451 ,446, or an invoice cost of a lit
tie more than II cents lb. That is
the highest priced coffee that comes to
the United States. But the importa-
tions, as may be seen, are small in
comparison with the enormous ship
ments from Brazil. More than so per
cent of the coffee that comes TO the
Z. s is Rio" or Of like quality and
price. Rio" is, in fact, the coffee that
the American people drink. sold to
them for higher priced article. AS
for the famous Mocha" coffee, little or
none of it is imported into the United
States.