With the beginning of the nineteenth century, coffee production soon became much heavier; and in 1825 Java exported, of her own production, some 36,500,000 pounds, besides 1,360,000 pounds brought from neighboring islands to which the cultivation had spread. In 1855, the amount was 168,100,000 pounds of Java coffee, and 4,080,000 pounds of coffee from the other islands. This is the highest record for the half-century following the beginning of the regular reports of exports in 1825. From 1875 to 1879 the average annual yield was 152,184,000 pounds. In 1900, production in Java was 84,184,000 pounds; in 1910, it was 31,552,000 pounds, and in 1915 it had jumped to 73,984,000 pounds.
On the west coast of Sumatra coffee was regularly cultivated, according to one account, as early as 1783; but it was not until about 1800, that exportation began, with about 270,000 pounds. By 1840, exports were averaging 11,000,000 to 12,250,000 pounds per year. Official records of production date from 1852, in which year the figures were 16,714,000 pounds. Five years later the recorded yield was 25,960,000 pounds, the high-water mark of Sumatra production. The total output in 1860 was 21,400,000 pounds; and 22,275,000 pounds in 1870. The average from 1875 to 1879 was 17,408,000 pounds; and from 1895 to 1899, it was 7,589,000 pounds. The yield was 5,576,000 pounds in 1900; 1,360,000 in 1910; and 7,752,000 in 1915.
In Celebes, the first plants were set out about 1750; but seventy years later production was only some 10,000 pounds. This soon increased to half a million pounds; and from 1835 to 1852 the yield ran between 340,000 and 1,768,000 pounds. From 1875 to 1879, production averaged 2,176,000 pounds; from 1885 to 1889, 2,747,000 pounds; and from 1895 to 1899, 707,000 pounds. In 1900, it was 680,000 pounds; in 1910, 272,000 pounds; and in 1915, 272,000 pounds.
Planting under government control, largely with forced labor, has been the special feature of coffee cultivation in the Dutch East Indies. At first the government exercised what was practically a monopoly; but private planting was more and more permitted; and in the latter part of the nineteenth century, the amount of coffee produced on private plantations exceeded that raised by the government. The government has now entirely given up the business of coffee production.
The total production of coffee in Java, Sumatra, and Celebes, in 1920, in piculs of 136 pounds, was as follows:
| Dutch East Indies' Coffee Production | ||||
| Kind of Coffee | Quantity Produced in | |||
| Java | Sumatra | Celebes and Bali | Total | |
| (piculs) | (piculs) | (piculs) | (piculs) | |
| Liberica | 14,972 | 6,243 | 2,074 | 23,289 |
| Java | 16,312 | 24,291 | 70,621 | 111,224 |
| Robusta | 411,235 | 256,645 | 4,998 | 672,878 |
| ———— | ———— | ——— | ———— | |
| Total | 442,519 | 287,179 | 77,693 | 807,391 |
Straits Settlements. Trade in coffee is a transhipping trade, Singapore acting as a clearing center for large quantities of coffee from the neighboring islands. In 1920, the imports were 25,914,267 pounds; and the exports, 26,856,000 pounds.
Federated Malay States. The acreage in coffee in the Federated Malay States is steadily declining. In 1903, coffee plantations covered 22,700 acres; in 1913, 7,695 acres; and in 1916, 4,312 acres. There was formerly a considerable export; but apparently local production is now required for home consumption, as in 1920 exports were practically nothing, and about 9,800 pounds were imported.
British North Borneo. Total exports of coffee have reached as high as 50,000 pounds, which was the figure in 1904; but they are much less now; being 5,973 pounds in 1915; 15,109 pounds in 1916; and 1,980 pounds in 1918.
Sarawak. Previous to 1912, the exportation of coffee from Sarawak, was 20,000 to 45,000 pounds annually. In 1912, a coffee estate of 300 acres was abandoned, and since that time there have been no exports.