Seldom does the coffee drinker realize how the ends of the earth are drawn upon to bring the perfected beverage to his lips. The trail that ends in his breakfast cup, if followed back, would be found to go a devious and winding way, soon splitting up into half-a-dozen or more straggling branches that would lead to as many widely scattered regions. If he could mount to a point where he could enjoy a bird's-eye view of these and a hundred kindred trails, he would find an intricate criss-cross of streamlets and rivers of coffee forming a tangled pattern over the tropics and reaching out north and south to all civilized countries. This would be a picture of the coffee trade of the world.
It would be a motion picture, with the rivulets swelling larger at certain seasons, but seldom drying up entirely at any time. In the main the streamlets and rivers keep pretty much the same direction and volume one year after another, but then there is also a quiet shifting of these currents. Some grow larger, and others diminish gradually until they fade out entirely. In one of the regions from which they take their source a tree disease may cause a decline; in another, a hurricane may lay the industry low at one quick stroke; and in still another, a rival crop may drain away the life-blood of capital. But for the most part, when times are normal, the shift is gradual; for international trade is conservative, and likes to run where it finds a well-worn channel.
In recent times, of course, the big disturbing element in the coffee trade was the World War. Whole countries were cut out of the market, shipping was drained away from every sea lane, stocks were piled high in exporting ports, prices were fixed, imports were sharply restricted, and the whole business of coffee trading was thrown out of joint. To what extent has the world returned to normal in this trade? Were the stoppages in trade merely temporary suspensions, or are they to prove permanent? How are the old, long-worn channels filling up again, now that the dams have been taken away?
We are now far enough removed from the war to begin to answer these questions. We find our answer in the export figures of the chief producing countries, which for the most part are now available in detail for one or two post-war years. These figures are given in the tables below; and for comparison, there are also given figures showing the distribution of exports in 1913 and in an earlier year near the beginning of the century. These figures, of course, do not necessarily give an accurate index to normal trade; as in any given year some abnormal happening, such as an exceptionally large crop or a revolution, may affect exports drastically as compared with years before and after. But normally the proportions of a country's exports going to its various customers are fairly constant one year after another, and can be taken for any given year as showing approximately the coffee currents of that period.
The figures following are for the calendar year unless the fiscal year is indicated. Where figures could not be obtained from the original statistical publications, they have been supplied as far as possible from consular reports.
Brazil. The war naturally increased the dependence of Brazil on its chief customer, and the proportion of the total crop coming to this country since the war has continued to be large. Shipments to United States ports in 1920 represented about fifty-four percent of the total exports. Figures for that year indicate also that France and Belgium were working back to their normal trade; but that Spain, Great Britain, and the Netherlands were taking much less coffee than in the year just before the war. Germany was buying strongly again, her purchases of 72,000,000 pounds being about half as much as in 1913. Shipments to Italy were four times as heavy as in 1913. The natural return to normal was much interfered with by speculation and valorization. Brazil seems to have come through the cataclysmic period of the war in better style than might have been expected.
| Coffee Exports from Brazil | |||
| Exported to | 1900 Pounds | 1913 Pounds | 1920 Pounds |
| United States | 566,686,345 | 650,071,337 | 826,425,340 |
| France | 78,408,862 | 244,295,282 | 203,694,212 |
| Great Britain | 6,442,739 | 32,559,715 | 9,597,378 |
| Germany | 235,131,881 | 246,767,144 | 72,196,934 |
| Aus.-Hungary | 71,696,556 | 134,495,310 | |
| Netherlands | 102,711,887 | 196,169,240 | 49,760,767 |
| Italy | 17,559,107 | 31,364,656 | 132,543,798 |
| Spain | 868,617 | 14,407,906 | 6,057,833 |
| Belgium | 41,500,638 | 58,858,562 | 42,309,469 |
| Other countries | 59,432,882 | 145,896,327 | 181,796,919 |
| —————— | —————— | —————— | |
| Total | 1,180,439,514 | 1,754,885,479 | 1,524,382,650 |
The 1900 figures are for the ports of Rio, Santos, Bahia, and Victoria.
"Other countries" in 1913 included Argentina, 32,941,182 pounds; Sweden, 28,045,737 pounds; Cape Colony, 15,930,731 pounds; Denmark, 6,252,931 pounds. In 1920 they included Argentina, 37,736,498 pounds; Sweden, 51,026,591 pounds; Denmark, 18,764,483 pounds; Cape Colony, 26,936,653 pounds.