The Lamar register., 1915-10-06
AMERICAN BEET SUGAR RE-
DUCES PRICE TO CON
SUMER
Competition of New HOMEGROWN
Beet Crop Forces Lower Quota
tions on Refining Trust

time during lne past alA lllOulllS. lAS
decline in the prices quoted by the sea-
board refiners of imported sugar
which takes place every fall when sug-
ar grown from American soil comes
upon the market, began earlier than
usual this year. The campaign of the
California beet sugar factories opened
several weeks before the customary
date and California sugar was offered
for sale in Atlantic coast cities and
intermediate points during the latter
half of August. Crop reports indicat-
ing that the beet sugar output of the
country would be the largest on record
and might run to 100000 tons or
more, are regarded in the trade as =
factor in leading the importing re-
finers to hold down prices in anticipa-
tion of more severe competition from
the domestic product than they ever
before have had to face.
During the present season it is ex-
pected that &c beet sugar factories will
be in operation in the United States.
The first of these factories 10 begin
the annual campaign was that at Wis
ALA, California, which began slicing
beets on July 3. Six other California
factories started work during July and
three opened early in August. Fac
tories further east will begin opera
tions during September or by the first
of October. In addition to the active
-
themselves and against the product of
the eastern refneries, the California
and Hawaiian refinery at Crockett,
California, which handles exclusively
American grown sugar from Hawaii,
has extended its facilities the last year
and has become an active competitor
in the western market, shipping its
production as far east as Chicago. In
order to secure an entrance to eastern
markets, western beet sugar not only
has absorbed freight rates, but has
been sold at 20 to 30 points below the
imported sugar of the refiners.
The great value of the domestic su-
gar industry to consumers never was
more strikingly shown than in 1914.
Following the outbreak of the Euro
pean war, Great Britain, shut off from
its customary sources of sugar supply
in Germany and Austria-Hungary,
made purchases of nearly half mil
lion tons of sugar from other coun-
tries, buying a considerable part Of it
in Cuba and in the New York market
The result of this unexpected drain
was a sudden advance of three cents a
pound, and the refiners marked up
their quotations to rs cents a pound
within two weeks of the outbreak of
the war. Early in September, Califor-
MIA beet sugar began to be offered in
Chicago and other middle-western cit
les at full cent pound or more be-
low the refiners' New York prices, and
under the influence of this competition
wholesale prices quickly declined to
six cents, and during the latter part
of the year to five cents a pound.
In 1911 the domestic crop brought
about an almost exactly similar reduc-
tion in sugar prices. In that year it
was not war but an anticipated short
age of nearly two million tons in the
beet sugar crop of Europe, that oper-
ated to put up prices in the worlds
sugar market. Beginning in July there
was a rapid advance in the prices
quoted by the New York refiners and
a high level of rs cents a pound was
reached early in September. Soon after
American-grown beet sugar began to
come upon the market in quantity a
reduction Of two cents pound in the
price took place.
While the effect of homegrown su-
gar is most strikingly shown in the
decrease of prices which it causes at
the beginning of the fall marketing
season, its influence is not confined to
that period, but extends throughout
the winter and early spring until the
bulk of the domestic crop is disposed
of. Writing in 1913, Willett and
Gray's Sugar Trade Journal estimated
that during the first half of that year
American consumers had saved s2o'-
100000 under the protective duty then
in force "from the competition De