Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1905-04-03
China's Demand for Cot.
tons Unprecedented.
Total Trade for Eight Months
Amounts to S2e, 600, 600.
Great Gain in Cotton Shipments to
Japan.

present fiscal year break all previous
records, and indicate that our total ex-
ports to China during the twelve
months ending June 80 next will reach
the unprecedented figure of $4O,OOo'ooo'
while to the Orient as whole the To-
tai will probably approximate sloo'-
100000 in value. These conclusions
are based upon figures just compiled
by the Department of Commerce ana
Labor through its Bureau OF STATISTICS,
which show that our exports to ASIA
and Oceania in the eight months end
ing with February, 1905, amounted TO
$92,523,412-practical equal to the
total shown by the full twelve months
of the fiscal year 1904, and exceeding
the total for the eight months Of any
preceding fiscal year.
Prior to the present fiscal year our
exports to Asia and Oceania had never
reached so much as s100.000,000, save
in the exceptional year 1900, when the
total was $1OS3O5.0S2, as compared
with $61,927,67S in 1897. s7s.235.176 in
1899, ss.2O2,11s in 1902. and $93,OO2,-
O2s in 1904; while for the eight elapsed
months of the present fiscal year the
total has already reached the unexam-
pied figure of $92.523,412.
The principal Oriental countries to
which this s92.50O.000 worth of mer-
chandise was exported are China, $2S.-
100000: Japan, $26,000,O0O; British
Australasia. $17,666.OoO; Hongkong,
nearly $4,000, 900; British East Indies,
s5,0OO.0OO, and the Philippines, about
$3.5O0,OOO.
To China our exports during, the
eight months under previous review
show a remarkable gain over previous
years, being $2S.0O0,0O0 in the present
fiscal year to date, as against $780,
900 for the same period of last year.
$15,50O,O00 for the corresponding
months of 1902. and $1O,2OO.O0O in the
same months of 1900. At the present
rate of expectation our total sales to
China will reach fully s40,0OO0O0 for
the full fiscal year, which ends three
months hence. Cotton cloths contrib
ute more than half the total value
of our sales to China. In 1900 our ex-
ports during the first eight months of
the fiscal year amounted to S10.200,000
and of this value $6,200.000
represented the value of the 133,00O,
900 yards of cotton cloths sold in the
Chinese markets. In 1905 our exports
to China show, as already stated. for
the first eight months of the fiscal
year, a total of $28,3OO,OOO, and of this
sum SIS, 100000 represented the value
of the 276OOO, 900 yards of cotton cloths
exported from the United States to
that country.
To Japan, which stands second in
the purchase of American merchandise
by Oriental countries. our exports dur
ing the eight months ending with Feb
ruary, 1905. also established a new
high record, being $25930.742. as
against $15.643.331 in 1904. s16.334.5S5
in 1902. and s3.16s,s69 in 1895. the fig
ures in each case relating to the first
eight months of the year. While cot
ton cloths form the principal item in
our exports to China. raw cotton con-
tributes by far the largest item in our
exports to Japan. though the quantity
tiuctuates considerably from year to
year. according to the level Of prices
prevailing in the United States. When
the price of American cotton becomes
abnormally high Japan purchases a
large share of her raw cotton from In
dia, that cotton being of a shorter sta
pie and therefore lower in price.
During the eight months ending with
February, 1906 the expectation Of raw
cotton to Japan from the United States
amounted to 67,7S5,S75 pounds, valued at
$7.0S7.1S6. the average export price being
to Japan, 1914 cents per pound, and to all
countries, SO cents. During the cores
ponding months Of the preceding year,
when the average export price of cotton
was lis cents, our exports of that article
to Japan amounted to but 20,1U.1I
pounds. valued at 11H cents per pound.
In 1900. when the export price averaged
but ~ cents per pound. Japan took dur
ing the first eight months of the fiscal
year III million pounds of raw cotton. In
EOl the price of cotton in the United
States advanced to 9S cents and Japan
took but 100 pounds during the eight
months under review. In 1902. when the
export price was about eight cents. Japan
took q million pounds of American cotton
during the first eight months OF the year,
but In 1904. when the export price had adj
vanced to eleven cents per pound, that
country purchased but twenty million
pounds OF cotton during the correspond
ing period Of the year; while in the pres
ent year, with lower prices in the United
States, Japan is again increasing her con-
sumption of American raw cotton, the
exports during the first eight months
having been 6.oO0ON pounds, or more than
same months OF the preceding year.
: Other important items in our exports to
Japan are: Refined mineral oil, $l,47O,0oS
in the eight months of the present fiscal
year. as against IS. 2S6, 116 last year; flour,
$2,IS2.3I1 in 1905, as against $4,26o,616 last
year; sole leather, S. ,255 in 1906 as
against $Sl4,S3S in 1904; electrical ma
chinery, $1fo,69l, as against $39l.554 last
year; cars and carriages, sl72,lB in 1905.
as against $5S0l9 last year, and steel
rails, $43l ,S0i, as against $l51,542 last year;
the figures being in each case those for
the first eight months of the fiscal year
named. In February alone our exports
to Japan were s. $50, 42S, and a like aver
age for the remaining four months would
place. our exports to Japan during the full
nscal year at the high-recOrd total of
The great increase noted in the case
OF China and Japan would seem to justi-
~ the expectation that our total exports
70 the Orient in the fiscal year 1906 will
oe ny Tar the largest on record, approx
miatinS !4e million dollars in value; while
the shipments to Hawaii from the
United states be included a total of $50
mnnon dollars would probably be
reached. For the eight months alone the
exports exceed by over twenty-three mil
non dollars those for the correspondents
period Of any preceding fiscal year being
niinsty.two million dollars. as against
r rne sssent-months' period Of the high