Cuba's Share of World Sugar Production-Sugar crops in Cuba average about 5,295,000 tons annually during 1926-1930, the largest for any five-year period prior to 1948-1952, amounting to 18 per cent of the world total and greater than any other country's output.

Cuban sugar production during the next five-year period, 1931-1935, averaged only 2,847,000 tons annually or 9.5 per cent of the world total. This decline resulted when most of the major sugar importing countries increased sugar trade barriers to unprecedented heights. By far the most restrictive of these barriers were those imposed by the United States in the form of an excessively high tariff and, later, a very small quota for sugar imported from Cuba.

During the World War II era, when restrictions on the importation of sugar were relaxed or abandoned by the United States and most other nations, Cuban sugar production was again increased in response to United States demands. Output reached 6,448,000 tons in 1947 and 6,675,000 tons in 1948.

CHART III

CHANGES IN 1952 WORLD PRODUCTION OF SUGAR FROM 1936-40 AVERAGE

The increase in the Cuban sugar crop is largely the result of greater production
during World War II at the urgent request of the United States and its allies.
The larger Cuban crop during the war was the principal offset to losses in Europe,
Asia and the remainder of North America.

Cuba's average output per year during 1947-1951 amounted to 6,272,000 tons, 20 per cent of the world's production of centrifugal sugar. Cuba's 1952 crop of about 7,964,000 tons set a new high record. Comparative data for the principal sugar-producing areas are presented in Chart IV.

Chapter Two

World Sugar Consumption and Trade

World Sugar Consumption—Sugarcane or sugar beets, as Chart I shows, are grown in many different areas of the world. The use of sugar is likewise almost universal, and about three-fourths of the world output is consumed in the countries where it is produced.

Table 4 shows the quantity of sugar consumed in 51 countries, using about 86 per cent of total world production of centrifugal sugar in 1948, the latest year for which data for that many countries are available. Consumption figures for the rest of the world are not available since World War II.

The United States is by far the largest consumer of sugar in the world. Consumption here in recent years has been more than three times that in the United Kingdom, the world's next largest consumer of centrifugal sugar. Total consumption in India is much larger than the figures for centrifugal sugar shown in Table 4. Most of the sugar used in India is Gur, a type of non-centrifugal sugar.

The largest sugar-consuming countries not included in Table 4 are Germany, Japan and China. Average annual consumption of sugar in Germany during 1935-1940, the latest period for which data are available, was 2,329,000 tons; in Japan, including Formosa, it was 1,262,000 tons; and in China, 857,000 tons.

Per capita consumption of refined sugar in the United States in 1948 amounted to about 94 pounds and has averaged about 95 pounds in recent years. Consumption in 1948 exceeded 100 pounds in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Hawaii. In certain areas consumption was below 6 pounds per capita.

Among the causes of low per capita consumption in various countries are low purchasing power, high retail prices resulting in large part from high tariffs or internal taxes on sugar, and dietary habits. Relationship in 1948 between per capita consumption of sugar and its retail price in selected countries is shown in Chart V.

International Trade in Sugar-Although a proportionately larger part of the world output of sugar enters international trade than is true

SOURCE: United States Department of Agriculture, except for India, Canada, Peru, Belgian Congo, Angola, Azores and Madeira, British Colonial Empire and Indonesia, for which figures are based on data published by the International Sugar Council.

1 White sugar only. In addition, the people of India produce annually between 3,000,000 and 4,000,000 tons of Gur, a type of non-centrifugal sugar. Practically all of this is consumed within the country.

2 Federal Territory only.

of many other agricultural products, including wheat, only about onefourth of the sugar produced in the world is exported. Moreover, as Chart VI shows, there are relatively few exporting countries of major importance. Since the war, no new exporting countries of importance have appeared, and Java has exported comparatively little sugar while shipments from the Philippines have not yet reached their pre-war level. Cuba, for many years the largest producer and exporter of sugar in the world, has increased exports materially over its volume in the 1930's. The sharp decline in sugar exports from Cuba during the 1930's resulted from

CHART V

RETAIL PRICES AND PER CAPITA CONSUMPTION OF SUGAR IN SELECTED COUNTRIES, 1948

Retail prices are one of the important factors determining the per capita con-
sumption of sugar as shown by data for 1948, the latest year for which official
figures are available. Trade barriers, of course, help cause high prices.

barriers imposed by most of the major sugar importing countries, among the most restrictive of which were those established by the United States. The world's largest importer of sugar, the United States, obtains most of its imports from Cuba.

Recent average net exports of sugar of the 21 principal exporting countries are shown in Table 5. Their average annual net exports for 1935-1939 totaled 9,618,000 tons, of which Cuba supplied about 30 per cent, Formosa 12 per cent, Indonesia 11 per cent and the Philippines 9 per cent.

Exports from these countries in 1951 totaled 10,266,000 tons, 7 per cent above the 1935-1939 average. Shipments from Indonesia, however, were less than one per cent and those from the Philippines amounted to only about 6.6 per cent, while Cuba's share was 58 per cent.

Net imports of sugar of the 27 principal importing nations, also shown in Table 5, averaged 9,176,000 tons for 1935-1939, of which the United States received 32 per cent, the United Kingdom 22 per cent, Japan 11 per cent, Western Germany 6 per cent and Canada 5 per cent.