All About Coffee by William H. Ukers (best new books to read .TXT) 📕

Nicaragua. Production of coffee in Nicaragua began between 1860 and 1870; and in 1875, the yield was estimated at 1,650,000 pounds. By 1879–80, this had increased to 3,579,000 pounds; and by 1889–90, to 8,533,000 pounds. In 1890–91 production was 11,540,000 pounds; and in 1907–08 it was estimated at more than 20,000,000 pounds. Ten years later, 25,000,000 pounds were produced; and the crop of 1918–19 was estimated at about 30,000,000 pounds. Lack of transportation, and excess of political troubles, have been important factors in holding back development.

Honduras. The coffee of Honduras is of very good quality; but production is small, and the country is not an important factor in international trade. Exports usually run less than 1,000,000 pounds. The chief obstacle to expansion is said to be lack of transportation facilities.

British Honduras. This colony grows a little coffee for its own use, but imports most of what it needs. Production had reached almost 50,000 pounds in 1904; but the present average is only about 10,000 pounds, raised on scattering trees over about 1,000 acres.

Panama. A small amount of coffee, of which occasionally as much as 200,000 or 250,000 pounds a year are exported, is raised in the uplands of Panama, or is gathered from wild trees. The industry is not of great importance, and the country imports considerable supplies, mostly from the United States.

Mexico. A very good grade of coffee is produced in Mexico; and it is said that there is sufficient area of good coffee land to take care of the demand of the world outside of that supplied by Brazil. Production, however, is limited, and to a large extent goes to satisfy home needs, leaving only about 50,000,000 pounds for export. In spite of much government encouragement in past years, coffee cultivation has not made rapid progress, when we remember that the country became acquainted with the plant as early as 1790. Not until about 1870 did the country begin to become important in the list of coffee-exporters; but by 1878–79, shipments amounted to about 12,000,000 pounds. This steadily increased to 29,400,000 pounds in 1891–92. Exports in recent years have averaged about 50,000,000 pounds; but in 1918 were only 30,000,000. Production has fluctuated greatly. In the years preceding the troubled revolutionary period, the total output was estimated as follows: 1907, 45,000,000 pounds; 1908, 42,000,000 pounds; 1909, 81,000,000 pounds; 1910, 70,000,000 pounds. In the ten years preceding 1907, production dropped as low as 22,000,000 pounds in 1902; and rose to 88,500,000 pounds in 1905. Next to the United States, Germany was the chief buyer of Mexican coffee before the war; although France and Great Britain also took several million pounds each.

Haiti. For well over a century Haiti has been shipping tens of millions of pounds of coffee annually; and the product is the mainstay of the country's economic life. In all that time, however, shipments have maintained much the same level. The country has been a coffee producer from the early years of the eighteenth century, when the plants began to spread from the original sprigs in Guiana or Martinique. After half a century of growth, exports had risen to 88,360,000 pounds in 1789–90, a mark that has never again been reached. Since then, exports have ranged between 40,000,000 and 80,000,000 pounds, keeping close to the lower mark in recent years because of European conditions. They were 38,000,000 pounds in 1856; 55,750,000 pounds in 1866; and 52,300,000 pounds in 1876. They had reached 84,028,000 pounds in 1887–88; but fell back to 67,437,000 pounds in 1897–98; and ten years later, were 63,848,000 pounds. In 1917–18, they were only about two-thirds that amount, or 42,100,000 pounds. Some 8,000,000 pounds are consumed yearly in the country itself. The coffee plantations cover about 125,000 acres.

Dominican Republic. Coffee production in the Dominican Republic ranges between 1,000,000 and 5,000,000 pounds, exports in recent years averaging about 3,500,000 pounds. The quality of the coffee is good; but the plantations are not well cared for. Until fifty years ago, the industry was in a state of decline from a condition of former importance; but it was revived, and by 1881 it supplied 1,400,000 pounds for export. The amount was 1,480,000 pounds in 1888; 3,950,000 pounds in 1900; 1,540,000 pounds in 1909; and 4,870,000 pounds in 1919. Blight, and disturbed political conditions, have hampered development. In normal times, Europe takes most of the export.

Jamaica. Jamaica began to raise coffee about 1730; and from that time on there was a steady but slow increase in production. Shipments amounted to about 60,000 pounds in 1752, and to about 1,800,000 pounds in 1775. At the beginning of the new century, in 1804, exports of 22,000,000 pounds are recorded; and in 1814 the figure was 34,045,000 pounds. Then exports gradually fell off, and in 1861 were only 6,700,000 pounds. They were 10,350,000 pounds in 1874; and since then, have not varied much from 9,000,000 or 10,000,000 pounds a year. They were 9,363,000 pounds in 1900; 7,885,000 pounds in 1909; and 8,246,000 pounds in 1919. The acreage in coffee remains fairly constant, being 24,865 in 1900; 22,275 in 1911; and 20,280 in 1917. It is said that there are 80,000 acres of good coffee land still uncultivated.

Porto Rico. The cultivation of coffee in Porto Rico dates back to the middle of the eighteenth century; but exportation does not seem to have been much more than a million pounds a year until the first years of the nineteenth century. Between 1837 and 1840, the average exportation was about 10,000,000 pounds; and by 1865, this had risen to 24,000,000 pounds. Ten years later, it was 25,700,000 pounds. In recent years, it has averaged about 37,000,000 pounds; the 1921 figure, including shipments to continental United States, being 29,968,000 pounds. Production since 1881 has been between 30,000,000 and 50,000,000 pounds; the heaviest being in 1896 when the total output was 62,628,337 pounds—the largest figure in the island's history. The industry was greatly damaged by a disastrous storm in 1900, and was also adversely affected by the European War, as a large part of Porto Rico's crop goes to Europe. Porto Rican coffee has not been popular in the United States, which takes only limited amounts. Cuba is one of the island's best customers.

Guadeloupe. Coffee production in Guadeloupe reached its highest point in the latter part of the eighteenth century, when more than 8,000,000 pounds were raised. The figure was about 6,000,000 in 1808; but the output declined during the succeeding decades, and forty years later was only 375,000 pounds. The amount produced in 1885 was 986,000 pounds; and there has been a gradual increase, so that the crop has been large enough to permit the exportation of 1,000,000 to 2,000,000 pounds, or more, since the beginning of the present century. Exports in 1901 were 1,449,000 pounds; in 1908, 2,266,000 pounds; and in 1918, 2,144,000 pounds.

Other West Indian Islands. Some little coffee is gathered for home consumption in many other West Indian islands, but little is exported. The island of Martinique, which is said to have seen the introduction of the coffee plant into the western hemisphere, does not now raise enough for its own use. Cuba was formerly one of the important centers of production; but for various reasons the industry declined, and for many years the country has imported most of its coffee supply. A century ago, the plantations numbered 2,067; and the annual exportation amounted to 50,000,000 pounds. When the island became independent, steps were taken to revive coffee planting; and in 1907 there were 1,411 plantations and 3,662,850 trees, producing 6,595,700 pounds of coffee. The Cubans, however, now find it convenient to obtain their coffee from the neighboring island of Porto Rico and from other sources; and importations have remained around 20,000,000 pounds a year. In Trinidad and Tobago, exports have reached as high as 1,000,000 pounds a year; but in recent times they have fallen off heavily. St. Vincent exported 485 pounds in 1917, and Grenada, 251 pounds in 1916. The Leeward Islands exported 1,415 pounds in 1917, and 2,946 pounds in 1916, the acreage being 274, the same as for many years past.

Arabia. The home of the famous Mocha coffee still produces considerable quantities of that variety, although the output, comparatively speaking, is not large. The chief district is the vilayet of Yemen; and the product reaches the outside world mainly through the port of Aden, although before the war much of this coffee was exported through Hodeida. The port of Massowah, in the last two or three years, has been drawing some of the supply of Mocha for export. No statistics are available to show the production of Mocha coffee; but an estimate made by the oldest coffee merchant in Aden places the average annual output at 45,000 bags of 176 pounds each, or 7,920,000 pounds. Although this is the only district in the world that can produce the particular grade of coffee known as Mocha, there is little systematic cultivation, and large areas of good coffee land are planted to other crops to provide food for the natives. When transportation facilities are provided, so that this food can be imported, it is predicted that the output of Mocha coffee will be doubled.

Aden is a great transhipping port for coffee from Asia and Africa, and more than half its exports are re-exports from points outside of Arabia. The following figures will show the proportion of Arabian coffee coming into Aden for export as compared with that from other producing sections: