COFFEE TRADE

COFFEE TRADE. From the great increase in the consumption of coffee in this as well as in other countries, the value of the article, the amount of capital and labour employed in its production, and the quantity of shipping required for its transport, it has become a commodity of great commercial importance. The duties which have been levied upon it have varied considerably at different periods. In 1819 the duty was raised from sevenpence to one shilling per lb.; and the quantity entered for home consumption in 1824 was 7,993,041 lbs., yielding a revenue of £407,544. 4s. 3d. In 1824, however, the duty was lowered to sixpence per lb., and the quantity entered for home consumption, in 1825, was 10,766,112 lbs. In 1828 it increased to 16,522,422 lbs., and at present may be estimated at 22,000,000 lbs., producing a revenue of about £580,000. In the year ending January 1831, the quantity imported into the united kingdom from all parts was 40,952,163 lbs., and the quantity exported to all parts 20,087,994 lbs. The following is an estimate of the annual exports of coffee from the principal places where it is produced, and of its annual consumption in those countries into which it is imported from abroad at the present time:

The discrepancy here between the supply and the demand is in some measure to be accounted for from the circumstance that we are without the means of arriving at very accurate conclusions, either as to the supply or the consumption of coffee. The above, however, is as close an approximation to the truth as can be obtained.