TOBACCO CONSUMPTION.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIX, Issue 5330, 24 September 1928, Page 4

TOBACCO CONSUMPTION.

INCREASE OF EMPIRE SMOKING. PIPE AND CIGARETTES. Tlie expansion cjf ,the world’s consumption of tobacco, the decline in popularity of pipes relatively to cigarettes, the striking, .increase in the demand for Empire tobacco ,ajid the general recent improvements in its quality are among the main points discussed by the imperial Economic Committee in, .their tobacco report. The problem facing those responsible for. the future of the still small but important Empire tobacco .tra.de receive detailed attention in, t|his survey. in 1921, states the report, the Empire supplied 3.3 per. cent, of the leaf tobacco imported into the United Kingdom, and in 1927 the figure had risen, to 18.4 per cent. It, is estimated that 37 per. cent, of the pipe, tobacco consumed in the United Kingdom in 1927 consisted of Empire leaf, but only slightly over 1 per cent, of the cigarette tobgcco. Over 250 brands of Empire tobacco ,a.nd 40 or 50 brands of Empire cigarettes have been placed bn, the British market. While in 1914 the annual average consumption in the United Kingdom was 2.41bs per caput of the population, in 1927, 3.41bs were consumed, “indicating a rapid increase, due undoubtedly ,tc* the extension of the cigarette habit and to smoking on the part of women?’ Strictly cqmpa,rable for other countries were difficult to obtain,, but it has! been estimated that, in, 1926 Belgium’s consumption was 6.6ibs per caput., U.S.A. 6.021b5, and Germany’s 41bs. TRIUMPH of cigarettes. A striking featuie, in the United Kingdom lias been the change i,n receipt years from pipes to cigarettes l . In 1907 cigarettes ace hinted for 23.8 per. cent, of the total, as .against. 71.1 per cent pipe tobacco arid! '5.1 cigars ; in 1924 cigarettes had r.ise,n to 58.5 per cent, and pipes and cigars fallen .respectively, o. 40 per cent, and 1-5 per cent. “The evidence we have received from trade resources,” the committee adds, “is to the effect that the, trend .to cigarette smoking has continued since 1924 a’nd some, witnesses considered that pipe tobaccos now account. for only one quarter of the consumption in the United Kingdom. It is, we think, that, pipe tobacco does not form more than 35 per cent, of the total tobacco* consumption of the United* Kingdom.” The advance of the cigarette in popular favour of recent years is not confined to the United Kingdom. Throughout Europe consumption now inclines towards cigarettes and the ‘milder varieties of tobaccos. . Even, in Germany where pipe tobacco still predominates, a marked increase in the consumption! of cigarettes has taken place. Jin the United Statens pipe and chewing tobacco still is tlie. greater part of consumption', but the proportion of cigarettes is i'i’r creasing. Even in India the ahJn'ual consumption oif cigarettes is now about 6500 million as compared with an a.nnual figure of somewhat under 10’00 million pre-war. The cigarette is thus at present advancing worldwide favour but the consumption per head appears to be highest in the United Kingdom. \ WORLD PRODUCTION. The position of world supplies receives full analysis. - For the years 1909 to 1913 the age annual world production of leaf, excluding, India, and China, was estimated, state® the imperial Economic Committee, at 2304 inilliOnjs lbs., For the years 1920 to 1922 this average Was placed at 2673 millions lbs, an.d in 1926 it is computed that 3415 million lbs of tobacco leaf were harvested. Unfortunately equivalent; figures for the earlier” years are . not available for. India and China, for which two countries the crop in 1926 was estimated at 1485 m.illiqn. lbs. If this quantity be included the estimate of the total production of tobacco in the world? in;' 1926 was 4900 million lbs. The United States of America and the: British Empire provided approximately, half .of this World to.tal. ■

Empire countries' contributing to this quota were, in the order, ’of their, Output, India, China, Union, of South Africa, Southern Rhodesia, Nyasaland, Northern Rhodesia, Australia, and Cyprus. • In the international trade .in obacco the Empire does not, howevc ;r occupy such a. prominent position i as the quantity of its production \v)o,uld suggest, for some of the countries which are the largest producers of, tobacco; are also the largest iconSumens. This is especially true of In(dia an<V China. •Only somewhat over onfefoui-'tli of the world crop—l24o millions.; out. of 4600 million lbs in 1925—entered international tracle' channels, the rest having, been, consumed in tb.e countries of production O.vev threefourths of the total export 'surplus' of

the world ip 1925 was provided by tlie United States (39 per cent, pf tlhe total), the Dutch East Indie® and the Balkans (each 16 per cent.), ap|d Brazil (6 per cent.). The contribution of the whole c-f the British Empire was only, about 4 per. cent. EMPIRE CONSUMPTION. Whereas the Empire only supplied 7% millions out, of the 228 million .pounds imported into the United Kingdom in 1921, it. supplied 41 millions to the 1927 tcjtal of 222 million pounds. Further, seven out of the seven and A half million pounds of Empire tobacco, imported in 1921 were drawn from Nyassala.nd, India, and British North Borneo, whereas in 1927, although these three Empire countries had raised their contribution to 24 million pounds, the imports from Rhodesia and Canada had grown from negligible quantities to 17 million pounds. Between 1920 and 1924 the consumption of Empire tobacco expanded at a ra.te of 1,650,0001 b a year, and between 1924 an.d 1927 at a rate of 3,200,0001 b a year. British manufacturers withdrew from bo,nd 1.546,00011; ef Empire-grown tobacco in 1919, as against 22,793,0001 b ip 1927. “We believe?’ the committee continued, “that, given op the side of the producers increased experience in pro- - ductiqn, strict attention to th© quality of the crop and the requirements of the British ma.rket, and, given, on the side of the manufacturer and British public, cordial support for Em* pire products, a still greater rate of increase could be established.” ■Already in certain of the ulewer countries of the Empire., such as Southern Rhodesia and Nyasaland, the cultivation cjf tobacco, is becoming, for the time being, the mainstay of farming and, therefore, of settlement, per cent, of the total tobacco consumption of the Unied Kingdom.”