Hannah / Spence The International Sugar Trade

1. Auflage 1996
ISBN: 978-1-84569-919-2
Verlag: Elsevier Science & Techn.
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 256 Seiten

This is the first book to cover in a comprehensive way, the conduct and structure of the international sugar industry from cultivation right through to end use. The authors look in detail at the workings of the growing and production sector and the trends in world production, consumption and trading of sugar. Important sections consider the policies of the world's major sugar producers and the likely future developments of the trade in the light of the developments in Eastern Europe and China, and in the substitute sugar sweetener products. The book will be an invaluable reference source for sugar producers and traders and for all those involved in the financial, advisory and investment communities.Published in association with the International Sugar Organization

Donald Spence has been associated with the sugar market since the reinstatement of futures trading in 1957. As one of the original floor traders he played a part in establishing the market and helping it to evolve into the truly international arena that it is today. In 1980 he joined E.D. & F. Man where he was chiefly engaged on research. He now writes extensively on commodities, futures and options and related topics.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Hannah, Tony

Spence, Donald

Leseproben

CHAPTER 1 A brief history
Publisher Summary
The evolution of sugar into the nutritious and plentiful plant of today took a long time. It is now widely assumed that the natural home of sugarcane is the Polynesian islands of the South Pacific where it is believed to have existed as long ago as 2000 BC. It was well known in India a thousand years later and in Persia around 500 BC. One of Alexander the Great’s generals came across it in Persia and called it “the reed which makes honey without bees.” From around 100 BC, it was introduced into China and other Far Eastern countries and by AD 100, the art of sugar making was well advanced throughout those areas. Hitherto, the only source of sweetness was from honey; bees are often found among the hieroglyphics that surround Egyptian tombs, signifying that the person, when alive, kept them. Production
The evolution of sugar into the nutritious and plentiful plant of today took a long time. It is now widely assumed that the natural home of sugar cane is the Polynesian islands of the South Pacific where it is believed to have existed as long ago as 2000 BC. It was well known in India a thousand years later and in Persia around 500 BC. One of Alexander the Great’s generals came across it in Persia and called it ‘the reed which makes honey without bees’. From around 100 BC it was introduced into China and other Far Eastern countries and by AD 100 the art of sugar making was well advanced throughout those areas. Hitherto, the only source of sweetness was from honey; bees are often found amongst the hieroglyphics that surround Egyptian tombs, signifying that the person, when alive, kept them. Later, the armies of the prophet Mohammed also found sugar in Persia whilst waging a holy war designed to convert the whole world to Islam in about AD 630. It was quickly introduced to all the surrounding countries within the prophet’s sphere of influence and spread to the north coast of Africa, eventually reaching the western end of the Mediterranean. At this time it was known as the Persian reed and the production of sugar from it was very primitive. It involved a blindfold and tethered mule or ox walking in a circle, driving a vertical grinding mill to crush the cane. The juice was then evaporated, by boiling, to leave a mixture of crystals and syrup. It did not keep very long and could not be stored. This method is still used in parts of India and elsewhere. Almost five hundred years later, in 1100, the first samples of the Persian reed reached Britain, brought back by the returning Crusaders. However, it was not until the early fourteenth century that it started arriving in sufficient quantities to be widely available. The first regular trade in sugar to Britain began in 1319 when some Venetian traders started regular shipments. Shipments were erratic and it was also very expensive and therefore out of the reach of all but the richest. One of the earliest mentions of sugar in Britain was in 1226, when the Mayor of Winchester held a banquet for King Henry III. The Mayor was charged to provide ‘three pounds of Alexandrian sugar, if so much is to be found’.1 By about 1500, sugar cane had become widely known, extensively cultivated and actively traded south of the 35th parallel. Often grown as a garden plant, it was also used as a medicine. The Dutch East India Company began shipments from Java and nearby countries to Europe from about 1615. Sugar cane was first introduced to the New World by Christopher Columbus who took some Canary Islands plants on his second voyage in 1493. It quickly flourished all over the Caribbean, which was known as the Spanish Main at that time. After Britain’s acquisition of the Caribbean in the middle of the seventeenth century, the industry continued to grow and sugar soon became an important export to Britain. There was a large demand for it since, up to then, the quality of the sugar in Britain was very bad; most of it came from Morocco and it was frequently unusable. This severely restricted consumption growth and led to widespread complaints to the government. Approximate growth of cane production in the Caribbean area and Brazil is shown in Table 1.1. Table 1.1 Approximate growth of cane production in the Caribbean area and Brazil, tonnes Cuba NK NK 17 000 Jamaica 25 000 40 000 61 000 St Dominique (Haiti) 30 000 60 000 80 000 Leeward Islands 20 000 20 000 20 000 Windward Islands NK 21 000 30 000 Brazil 20 000 20 000 21 000 Suriname 8 000 6 000 9 500 British Guiana NK 3 500 NK Note: Totals are approximate and have been rounded. NK = not known. Sources: Noel Deerr, ISO. By 1700, things had greatly improved; both Britain and France were actively encouraging the planting of new stronger variations and strains of cane from both the Mediterranean and the Far East. The cultivation of sugar cane is labour-intensive and the experiment of shipping British agricultural labourers to the Caribbean to work in the fields was not a success. The climate proved too much for them. Spanish and Portuguese workers absconded and set up shops and so the only answer to the labour shortage was indented labour from West Africa. These slaves were shipped in their thousands to the West Indies in the most appalling conditions, although, to be fair, the sailors at that time were only marginally better off. A flourishing three-way trade developed with textiles, toys, etc, being shipped to West Africa and bartered for slaves and gold dust and taken to the West Indies, from where sugar and rum was shipped to Europe. The success of this trade essentially altered the pattern of production around the Mediterranean. Apart from Egypt and parts of Spain, it had disappeared completely by the end of the eighteenth century. Between 1690 and 1790, some 12 million tonnes of sugar cane were shipped to Europe from the Western hemisphere but by the end of the eighteenth century the Napoleonic wars again altered the situation considerably. The superiority of the Royal Navy successfully blockaded all European ports, effectively preventing any goods from reaching them. By now, the consumption of sugar was widespread and the cost had fallen to such an extent that it was within the grasp of virtually everyone. The wars, however, quickly reversed that trend and the shortages prompted a public outcry. Cane sugar production in 1800 is shown in Table 1.2. Table 1.2 Cane sugar production in 1800, tonnes Shortages led to the arrival of sugarbeet. About 50 years earlier in 1748, a German scientist, Andreas Sigismund Marggraf became the first person to discover the presence of sugar in the red and white beet plants. Not being a businessman, Marggraf failed to recognize the commercial implications of his discovery and it was left to Franz Carl Achard to follow it up. By 1799 Achard’s experiments had advanced sufficiently to persuade King Frederick William III to build, at his own expense, a beet factory in Silesia, which opened in 1801. Europe’s first commercial sugarbeet factory had been built two years earlier in Bohemia in Austria-Hungary. But this, too, failed for lack of business acumen. However, by this time, several others had started up and were actively engaged in production. It had also spread to other countries, notably France, where, by 1811, thanks to official action and encouragement, a thriving industry had been established. Napoleon decreed that French farmers grow sugarbeet and by 1813 there were over 300 factories in operation, providing some 7.7 million lb of sugar. However, the Treaty of Paris in 1814 reopened French ports to colonial sugar, causing the temporary collapse of the industry throughout most of Europe. Nevertheless, it revived from about 1830 and by 1850 there were thriving industries in France, Germany, Russia and Austria-Hungary, see Table 1.3. Table 1.3 Beet sugar production 1840–80, 000...