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 -.

Willett & Gray's Sugar Trade Jour
nal for the week Of October 80 con-
tains a conservative review Of the
sugar situation of much local interest.
II was this review to which E. d. Ten
ney made reference in his interview
given yesterday upon his return from
San Francisco .~. D. ......
SUGAR-A LOOK BACKWARD
The European war broke out August
/, 1914, when stocks of sugar in the
world and in every country we're 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 a stock of sugar
of 205,55 tons, sufficient for nearly
two months supplies against 201 900
tons August 1, 1918. But instantane-
ously, without warning, these apparent
easy conditions changed. All European
beet sugar supplies we're cut off. Eng
fish government officials became ex-
cited on the sugar supply question.
They looked over the cane sugar fields,
they saw that Cuba and the United
States values of sugar were apparently
IA cent per lb. 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 lb. duty paid. The British gov
eminent bought from them all the SUI
gar II could secure by raising its bids
daily until 4c c. & T. and 5.02c duty
paid, was reached In the United States.
Then its turned its attention to other
sources of cane supplies which were
open to it, and ON or about the basis
OF &c 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 semi-fefned sugar,
and a continued small buying Of re-
fined in the United States has contin-
Hed to the present time. T.:
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 stimula-
ton that pefmeated the United States,
however, did not cease at this level
but went ON until 1.2c G. q {. and
6.25c duty paid, was reached August
IS. Supplies were not curtailed and
everybody fl the United States got all
the sugar they wanted to buy for i'm
mediate and future use and, as results
have proved, got more than they want
ed while carried away with the buying
excitement. Many families bought .
barrel OF sugar. enough to give them q
pound Of sugar day for year. When
everybody was full OF sugars the. de-
mand suddenly ceased and it began to
be realized that supplies, instead Of
proving short, were mach In excess Of
the demand. With that realization,
which came abort September Is q
hasty attempt to dispose of the extra
supplies (that were not wanted) start.
ed about as rapid 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 ID. of what
it was at the beginning Of war, and
as high as 1t even might have been at
any time IL no war had existed. Sup
ply and demand make the price, nor
mally, but mistaken view of supply
and demand under unusual conditions
made buying of sugar this season at,
as is now apparent, unnecessarily high
values, at a tremendous extra cost to
the consumers of the United States.
On October 1 there proved to be
1886 tons of sugar in stock in the
United States and Cuba, 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 similar experiences
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 100000 to
100000 tons of sugar for the remainder
of it's consumption In this campaign,
without having access to European
beet sugar, somewhat similar condi-
tions may be repeated, but with bet
ter cause or foundation for the result
ing rise in prices.
Let us take a 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. $780,. z..-ss
The free and preferential crops
available for United States use Octo-
her, 1854. we're 1916, 1867 tons From
this amount Great Britain took 232,-
734 tons direct from Cuba. 10000 tons
via New York and $1,000 tons refined
from the United States Ito October
20). Other countries took from Cuba
66,38S tons, and 5000 tons refined from
the United States. a 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 4G9, 066 tons