The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-10-03
TIT PACIFIC
AMERICAS FRUIT TRADE.

Bananas and lemons regularly con
stitute in value over one-half the tota
imports of fruit to the United States
Imports of bananas range from 25,o00,0O'
TO &c, 000, 900 punches annually and theil
cost, laid down at ports of the produc-
ing countries, ranges from s7,O0O,0o0 tc
SIS. 500, 900 a year. The figures for tht
fiscal year ending June 80, 1903, Were
2s.71I, 301 punches and ss,534,76 value
OF lemons the imports for the same
year, sicily being the almost exclusive
source of supply, were 1872, 775,s67 pounds
valued at ss.0s7,2 PA. Figures are moi
complete for the corresponding year
ending June 30, 1904, but the value OF
imported bananas was s7.7O9, SAB, a de-
crease of 1884, 500 from the previous
year, while lemons show an increase in
the importation of 171,s2s,2 21 pounds
valued at 50 ,65s, 5ss.
Up to the beginning of the present
century. a recent official report says,
the annual exports of fruit from the
TO one-haif so much as the imports, but
since that time they have increased
steadily, and in the year ended June 80,
1904, exports of these products, for the
first time in the history of the trade,
actually exceeded the imports, the value
of the former at ports of export hav-
ing been $40, 34S. 299, while that of
the latter at foreign ports whence i'm
ported was 1864, $50. The exports OF
1904 were, however, exceptional, ow-
ing to a shortage in the apple crop of
some countries of northern Europe, and
to partial failure of the prune crop
IN sections of southern Europe. The
probability is that there viii not be a
REPETITION of these heavy exports, espe-
ciaIIy of apples and prunes, during the
present year.
After bananas and lemons, already
mentioned as Che chief imports Of fruit,
the remaining fruits imported embrace
q great variety Probably the most
important, as measured by the cash
STANDARD, are the small raisins, or dried
grapes. imported principally from
Greece under the name of currants, or
zante currants: about s1,000,0o0 worth
of this fruit is consumed annually in
the United States. There is also an i'm
port trade of almost equal value in
fresh grapes, OF which the Alnerian
district in Spain is the chief source of
supply. Olives, green or prepared, are
imported in quantities amounting to
about 100000 gallons a year, and rep
resent an expenditure abroad of about
&750, 600 annually. Imports of oranges
have been undergoing steady decline
for the past few years under the in
fluence of heavy increase in domestic
production; the total imports of this
fruit for the fiscal year. 1s03-4. amount
ed in value TO only about $500.o00, and
this was more than counterbalanced by
the exports Of domestic oranges. the
value OF which was upwards of 800, o0e.
The only other fruits imported in
quantities whose value exceeds or APP
proaches the s500,0n0 mark are figs,
dates, raisins, and pineapples. For figs
and dates Turkey in-Asia is the prin-
cipal source of supply. From 10,00000o
to 1900, coo pounds of figs and about
90, 600, 900 pounds of dates are imported
each year, the annual value of the for
mer being from about s5OO,0 to 100000,
and of the latter from $3.50, 900 to $3.50, 1000.
Raisins twenty years ago were import
amounting in value to upwards of So
coo, 0e0 annually. But for several years
past the cultivation of this fruit in
California, notably in the vicinity OF
Fresno, has been conducted with such
success that practically the entire de-
mand of the United States is now sup
piled from that source. Imports, it is
true. are stln made to the extent OF
from 500, 1000 to s5OO.00O worth annually
a growing export trade in domestf,
rsisins, however, coupled with the re
exports, practically balances the &C
counts. Pineapples are imported from
tropical America in considerable guam
titles; the anrlal imports amount il
value from about s5oo,OOo to 100000
Other fruits in great variety are import
ed, but only in comparatively small
quantity.
The export trade in fruits has increas
ed enormously within recent years
From value of s4,S56.517 in 1S94-s5 thi
trade increased to s11,4S6,172 in 1898
1900. declined to ss.415.1Os in 1912, an
again increased to s2o,s4S,2ss in 1ses--
American fruits are now known in tn
markets of many of the principal coun
tries of the world. The varieties mos
abundantly found on foreign market
are apples and prunes. In 1904 ther
was shipped from the United States t
foreign countries S. 237. S94 worth of az