The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-12-31
RUBBER IMPORTS
MANY MILLIONS
Americas Demand Growing and
Prices Rise With the
Consumption.

y
will exceed, in both quantity and val
ne, those of any earlier year. During
the 10 months ending with October,
1909, the importations Of india rubber
(including balata, gutta-percha, and
gutta- ioolatong) reached the record To-
tai of sixty-two million dollars, exceed
ing bv over six millions the total for
the entire calendar year, 1906, the ban
per wear in this feature of the import
trade. For the single month Of Octo-
Der the imports of india rubber were
valued at over eight million dollars,
and should this rate be maintained
during November and December, the
total for the twelve months ending
with December, 1909, would be over
seventy-fve million dollars, as against
forty-six and a half million dollars in
1908, fftyfour millions in 1907, and
fifty-six millions in 1906.
The growth in demand for india rub
Der, measured by the increase IN I'M
portations, has been marked feature
of the last twenty years, period of
few. if any, of those raw materials for
which the United States is dependent
upon foreign countries for its supply
show a growth as rapid as that of in
dia rubber importations. In the TWEEN
ty-vear period from 1889 to 1908 i'm
portations of hides and skins have in
creased from twenty-five million dol
lars to fifty-eight millions; raw silk,
from twenty-five millions TO sixty five
millions: fbers, from twenty-four mil
lions to thirty millions; leaf tobacco,
from fourteen millions to twenty-four
and half millions; wool, from nine
teen millions to twenty-threa millions;
and tin. from seven millions TO TWEEN
ty-four millions; while those of india
rubber have during the same time
grown from twelve and a half million
dollars in 1889 to forty-six and nalf
millions in 1908, with every indication
that the total for the year just draw
Ding to close will exceed seventy five
million dollars.
This increase in the value Of india
rubber imported is due, in part, to the
advance in price following the enlarg-
ed demand in various parts of the
world, and especially in the United
States which consumes fully one-half
of the world output of india rubber.
Thus, while the quantity of india rub
Der imported has increased from thirty
two million pounds in 1889 to ffty-fve
millions in 1899 and seventy-three mil
lions in the ten months of 1909 for
which figures are available, the aver
age import price has advanced from
thirty-nine cents per pound in 1889 to
sixty cents per pound in 1899 and
eighty cents per pound in the elapsed
months of the present year, while for
the single month of October the aver
age import price was practically $l.00
per pound.
The import price of the crude rubber
brought into the United States during
the ten months for which figures are
available has exceeded that in any
earlier year, having averaged eighty
cents per pound in the period in ques-
ton, while the highest annual average
in earlier years was seventy-eight cents
per pound in the fiscal year 1906, rs. 6
cents per pound in 1907, and 74.2 cents
per pound in 1905, the import prices
prior to that time ranging from sixty
eight cents per pound in 1904 down to
as low as an average of thirty-eigbt
cents per pound in 1889.
OF the sixty-two million dollars rep
resenting the importation of the vari-
Gus classes of india rubber in the ten
months of 1909 for which detailed sta
tistics have been completed by the
bureau of statistics of the department
of commerce and labor, ffty-eight and
half millions represented india rub
Der proper; two million dollars, scrap
rubber, fit only for remanufacture; one
million dollars, gutta joolatong, an ar
tiele similar to. and mixed with, ruobel
for use in various industries; 357 thou
sand dollars balata, and 123 thousand
| grtta-percha.
Brazil is the CHIEF contributor to the
india-rubber supply of the United
country in the ten months ending witt
October amounting to thirty four mil
| lion pounds, valued at thirty and one
half million dollars; while the United
| Kingdom contributed, presumably from
| its African and East Indian colonies
nine million pounds, valued at ten and
| half million dollars; Mexico, ffteer
million pounds, valued at five and one
half million dollars; Germany, four an6
| third million pounds, valued a.
| three and one-half million dollars; 9th
| er Fdrope, six and two-thirds miller
| pounds, valued at practically six mil
/, lion dollars; wnlle from the East In
dies direct there was total importa
ton of little over one million pounds
and from Central America, slightly les,
than one million pounds.
TIE relation of india-rubber i,apor
tations to domestic manufactures il
| which that article is used as a raw ma
terial is apparent by reference to cen
sus figures, which show that the mum
Der of establishments engaged in manu-
| facture of rubber and elastic goods ha
increased from SO in 1880 to 224 il
1905; the capital employed, from 81,
million dollars to forty-six millions
the wages paid, from two and one-hal
million dollars to nearly nine and one
half millions; and the value of I'll.
product, from fourteen and one half mil
I lion dollars in 1880 to sixtv-tbree mil
lions in 1908. Meantime expectations q
indla-Fubber manufactures are assumip.
important proportions In the ealeuda
year 1889 they We're valued at S937
497; in 1899, S2,0Sl .5SS: ana in IN
ten months of 1909. 81, o67 .03S. indicat
ing total of over IS. 900 OOn for ~