Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1914-11-11
War and Its Effect on Supplies
and Prices-Great Britain
As a Factor

tains a conservative review Of the
sugar situation Of much local interest
IL was this review to which f. d. Ten
ney made reference in his interview
given yesterday upon his return from
San Francisco -~....
/. SUGAR-A LOOK BACKWARD
The European war broke out August
l, 1914, when stocks Of sugar in the
world and in every country were ex-
ceedingly large, when growing crops
were the largest ever known and when
prices of sugar everywhere were at
or near their lowest level. and there
was nothing In these conditions to ex-
pect any material advance in prices.
Great Britain had stock Of sugar
of 205,550 TONS. sufficient for nearly
two months supplies against 20l 900
tons August l., 1913 But instantane-
ously, without warning, these apparent
easy conditions changed. All European
beet sugar supplies we're cut off. Eng
lish government officials became ex-
cited on the sugar supply question.
they saw that Cuba and the United
States values OF sugar we're apparently
IA cent per Id. below other world
values and had large supplies. These
were the places then from which to
recoup their supplies and immediate
" action was taken Cuba sugar was
2.2Sc in bond in New York and 3.29c
per ID. duty paid The British gov
eminent bought from them all the su.
gar it could secure by raising its bids
daily until &c c. & +. and 5.02c duty
paid, was reached in the United States.
Then it's turned its attention to other
sources of cane supplies which were
open to it, and on or about the basis
OF 4c per H., Great Britain, before
August closed, had secured from all
sources some 100000 tons of sugar,
sufficient for future use for nine
months, to May, 1915. This supply Is
mostly Of raw and semtrefned sugar,
and continued small buying Of re-
fined In the United States has contin-
Sued TO the present time.
The main urgent and persistent buy
ing by Great Britain, however, ceased
at &c cost and freight, 5.02c duty paid,
raw sugar basis. The buying stiTnuia-
ton that pefmeated the United States
however, did not cease at this level
but went on until 5 lie e. q 20. and
6.25c duty paid. was reached August
.13. Supplies were not curtailed and
Everybody in the United States got ell
the sugar they wanted to buy for I'M
mediate ana future use and, as results
have proved. got more than they want
ed while carried away with the buying
excitement. Many families bought q
barrel Of sugar, enough to give them q
pound Of sugar day for year. When
everybody was full OF sugar The de-
mand suddenly ceased and II began to
be realised that supplies, Instead Of
proving short, were much In excess Of
the demand. With that reslization.
which came abort September 10 -
hasty attempt to dispose Of the extra
supplies fthat were not wantedl start
ed about as rapid a decline as was the.
rise in prices, and today raw sugar Is
back to 5-S cents c. & T., 3.64c. duty
paid, or within 3-8 cent per lb. of what
1t was at the beginning Of war, and
as high as 1t even might have been at
any time If no war had existed. Sup
ply and demand make the price, nor
mally, but a mistaken view OF supply
and demand under unusual conditions
made buying of sugar this season at.
as is now apparent. unnecessarily high
values, at q tremendous extra cost to
the consumers of the United States.
On October there proved to be
45I, 55e tons of sugar IN stock in the
United States and Cubs, more than
was required to meet the actual neces-
sary buying demand Of both Great Brit
ain and the United States. without ac-
cess to any of the European beet crop
supplies This is an instance of be-
coming unduly frightened and crossing
the bridge before reaching it.
SUGAR-A LOOK FORWARD
Can lesson be learned from looking
backward or is q similar experience
to be gone through In the present SUI
gar campaign year October 1, 1914, to
September 80, 1915? Many, no doubt,
believe that when the time comes,
Great Britain must buy its 6O0.089 to.
700, 900 tons of sugar for the remainder
OF It's consumption in this campaign,
without having access to European
beet sugar, somewhat similar condi-
lions may be repeated, but with bet.
ter cause or foundation for the result
ing rise in prices.
Let us take dip into the future
and see how it looks from the stand
point Of supply and demand of cane
sugar, without beet sugar for the two.
countries, Great Britain and the United
States. y"
The free and preferential crops
available for United States use Octo-|
her, 1914, were 4,616,367 tons From
this amount Great Britain took 49,
734 tons direct from Cuba, 1000 tons
via New York and $4,000 tons refined
from the United States Ito October
20). Other countries took from Cuba
81, 1888 tons, and 5000 tons refined from
the United States, total of 423,122
tons, leaving for the United States
use 4,193,245 tons. With the stock on
hand October /, 1913, this amount has
been more than sufficient for the needs
of the United States by 409,066 tons
stock remaining in the United States