The Washington times., 1924-03-12
REF|NERS
HAD BAD
YEAR
1929 Good Year For Produ-
GERS, But Refiners Lost
Money, Says Babst.
By w. s. COUSINS
EnnNn nnnlifAn NAWa SArNiCA.

NEW YORK, March 12.-The
year 1928 was producers rather
than q refiners' year in the Amer
lean sugar industry" Earl D. Babst,
president of the American Sugar
Refining Company, said today. As
evidence of that fact he pointed
to his annual report. submitted to
stockholders today, in which. he
shows an operating loss of $1,693.-
07O.O1, in the process Of refining
and marketing 1,165,000 tons Of
sugar, in contrast with profit of
more than $10,O00.0O0 for refining
], $50 900 tons in 1922. Not q
penny of profit, he said, had ac-
crued to the company from gross
sales of $500, 100000 last year.
Price Varies.
To the sensational developments
in the retail sugar trade, including
the housewives scramble in Feb
ruary, excessive speculation in fu-
lures, induced by the Department
of Commences famous bulletin on
world supply and demand, and the
unexpected contraction in the
Cuban crop Of raw sugar, Mr.. Babst
attributes the extreme irregularity
of the sugar market last year.
There Is such a narrow margin be-
tween raw and refined prices, he
said, that wide fluctuations in
prices of raw sugar upset calcula-
lions of refiners, and frequently
turn a prospective profit into a
loss. Last years inventories of
his company fluctuated as much
as 81, 100000 on a single day.
''Sugar refiners last year had all
the ups and downs Of tenyear pre-
war normal period" Mr.. Babst de-
clared. There were lis changes Of
raw sugar prices, and the extreme
fluctuation Of 1876 cents pound
during the year was greater than
the fluctuations of 2.275 cents a
pound a year the ten years before
the world war. Between the scram-
BILE and the boycott, the whole
machinery Of sugar refining and dis
tribution was turned tOpsy turvy.
The period Of greatest demand came
in early winter. usually the season
of smallest consumption while the
smallest demand, the reverse of nor
NAL years, reached us in the sum.
mer season. Undue public excite
ment made the work Of sugar re-
finers unusually difficult, and
caused unnecessarily high prices to
consumers"
Conditions Favorable
Mr.. Babst gratefully acknowledged
that conditions in sugar markets,
since the turn of the year. were
much more favorable than in the
same period last year
THE last six weeks have been
more like normal times" he said,
than any similar period since July,
1919. The fluctuations in prices
that have taken place in that period
seem mild to us after the expert.
ences of 1920 and 1928. Public
excitement always increases the
difficulties Of a sensitive market
like that Of sugar, and scramble
or a boycott are equally expensive
for the consumer in the long run. :"
Mr.. Babst was unable to make any
estimate of the probable Cuban pro-
duction this year, but anticipated no
difficulty in supplying needs of the
home market.
The American Sugar Refining
Company was more fortunate last
year in it's investments, which in
clude stocks of Cuban producing
companies, than in the refining and
marketing Of sugar. 1t derived an
income Of $S,5O8.163 from these in
vestments and made a profit of
4,452, 631 in the sale of other hold
ings. After making ample provision
for depreciation of plants. new re-
finery construction, interest on
bonds and paying dividends on pre-
ferred stock. the company passed
more than $S65,107 to surplus &C.
count, bringing that item up to
8,O66,239. The company also has
a reserve fund Of $22. 222,945.
AS usual Mr.. Babsts report is q
compendium of valuable informa-
ton, covering the entire field Of the
sugar industry. Last year his pub
licity bureau collected no less than
$4,000 newspaper clippings relative
to sugar stories" the most i'm
portant of which he has condensed
and printed in chronological order
as an appendix to his report. He
also presents a complete list Of
bills introduced in Congress since
1917. affecting the sugar industry.