The midland journal., 1912-12-20
IMPORTS OF drinks
Consular Reports Show United
States Largest Coffee
Consumer.
Amount Of Cocoa Brought TO This
Country Nearly TrebIed In Ten
Years japan and China Send
Most Of the Tea.

Washington. Imports of cocoa into
the United States IN the year which
ends with December will exceed those
Of any earlier year and approximate
10000. 900 pounds. against 57.O0O.000
pounds ten years ago. The growth In
the importation of this article In re-
cent years has been much more rapid
than that Of tea or coffee. The guam
tity Of cocoa, or cacao, imported In
1912 Is practically three times as great
as in 1902. a decade earlier, while tea
imports show an increase OF but 20
per cent. and those Of coffee are act
ually less than in 1902, the compari-
SONS being for the nine months end
ing with September OF the years
named.
This rapid increase in importations
of cocoa has brought the United States
to first rank In the consumption OF
that article. the present consumption.
based upon the net imports OF the cal
endar year 1911. being 30000.00O
pounds, compared with 112,000,00O for
Germany, 60,00O,00O for France. and
56,000,000 for the United Kingdom.
out OF O. world consumption OF ap-
proximately 50O.000,000 pounds. OF
the worlds imported coffee the United
States is also the largest consumer.
the net imports last year having been
96.00O,00 pounds, compared with
404 100000 for Germany, 245,000, 0,OOO
for France, 28,000,000 for the United
Kingdom. and $4,000, 900 for Russia.
In imports of tea. however. the United
States ranks third, her total imports
of that article, 1O0.000,000 pounds. be-
ing exceeded by those Of the United
Kingdom. 294,000,0o0 pounds. and
those Of Russia. 155,000.00O pounds.
Germany's tea imports for consump-
tion In 1911 amounted to but 5000. 900
pounds, and those OF France 100000
pounds.
Most Of the cocoa imported into the
United States is produced in the West
Indies. Central and South America.
OF the 131,0o0,0oo pounds imported In
the first nine months Of 1912, $1,000
900 pounds were from British West
Indies, q, 100000 from Santo Domin-
20, 10000, 900 from Ecuador. and 12.-
100000 from Brazil; while 20.00o,O0O
pounds were credited to Portugal and
800, 900 pounds to the United King
dom, though, in fact, produced in GER
tain OF their colonies.
Brazil Is the chief source Of our i'm
ported coffee. having supplied 1885,
100000 pounds out Of a total Of 651s-
100000 pounds imported in the nine
months ended with September, 1912.
compared with 55,000,00 from Colon
bia, 37,50O,000 from Venezuela. ST.
100000 from the Central American
American states, 29,000,000 from Mex
leo and less than 60.000,000 pounds
| from all other countries, including A.
OOO,0 900 pounds imported from Europe.
Japan usually supplies about one.
half of the tea consumed in the United
States, though In the current year the
proportion imported from that coun-
try is somewhat less than one-half.
OF the 100000 pounds Of tea i'm
ported In the nine months under re-
view. 2s, 100000 pounds were from Ja-
pan, lS.OO0,O00 from China, 10.000.00
from the East Indies. and 100000
from the United Kingdom, presumably
the product OF certain Of her colonies.
The relative increase In importa-
| tions of cocoa. coffee and tea into the
United States is illustrated by the fol-
lowing compilation Of the Statistical
Division Of the Bureau Of Foreign and
Domestic Commerce. It will be seen
that in the period from 1880 to 1911
Imports of cocoa increased from s.
600, 900 to $4,000, 900 pounds: those Of
coffee from 404,000.000 to s0o.O00,000
pounds, and those of tea from 68.-
0oO. 900 to 100000. 900 pounds. Imports
Of cocoa are thus twenty times as
much as In 1880. while those of cof-
fee In the Same period have about dou-
bled. and those of tea increased about
so per cent.