Cotton is native to Brazil, and may be grown in all parts of the republic. The best cotton lands are in the centre and along the N.E. coast to the mouth of the Amazon, where the finest varieties produce a long silky fibre equal to the Sea Island or the Egyptian. Annual production is reckoned at from 90,000 to 100,000 metric tons, but the export of raw cotton, mostly to England, fluctuates widely from year to year. The best year of the period 1910-20 was 1913, when 37,500 tons were shipped abroad, worth over 2,300,000. The average in recent years has been about 5,000 tons. By a presi- dential decree of March 27 1920 a cotton service was established to investigate the properties of the soil and climatic conditions, create experimental stations, and provide the planters at cost with machinery, implements and fertilizers. With these measures of encouragement taken by the Federal Government, the increasing enterprise of individual firms and planters to improve conditions of production, and with more careful selection and standardization of the fibres, Brazil should some day become the world's greatest exporter of high-grade cotton. The only important wheat-producing state in 1921 was the southernmost, Rio Grande do Sul, which supplies about half of its own needs; but Santa Catharina, Parana, and the high interior of the south-central states are also suitable for the cultivation of this cereal. Stock-raising advanced notably during 1910-20, especially in Rio Grande do Sul, but also in the states of Minas Geraes, Parana, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Matto Grosso. The industry is being put on a modern basis, packing plants of the latest design and of high efficiency are in operation or projected, and dairy products have become valuable. The first two packing houses in Brazil were established in the state of Sao Paulo, one with North American capital, the other with Brazilian. A packing plant has been completed at Rio Grande by the Companhia Swift do Brazil, and another in the city of Sao Paulo by the Companhia Armour do Brazil. Canning establishments have been erected at Rosario and Sant' Ana do Livramento, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, and Rio de Janeiro now possesses cold-storage plants with large capacity. Official statistics of live stock in 1913 were as follows:
Cattle Horses Mules
30,705,400 7,289,690 3,207,940
Goats Sheep Swine
10,048,570 10,549,930 18,400,530
The increasing importance of the cattle industry since 1914 may be gathered from the following figures:
Exports of Chilled and Frozen Beef.
Metric tons Value
1914
1915 1916 1917 1918 1919
1915 1916 1917 1918 1919
i 62
8,514 309,706
33,661 1,414,460
66,452 3,184,461
60,509 3,246,359
51,634 3,381,486
Exports of Preserved Meats.
Metric tons Value
123 8,201
856 78,571
6,552 5H-695
17,223 1,402,892
25,398 2,447,095
Rubber is still the most important of the forest products of the republic, and ranks next to coffee in export value, although it is being rapidly overtaken by exports of meats and hides. Since 1910 the rubber industry has suffered severely from the competition of cheaper plantation rubber from the Orient, especially since the slump in the market following the artificial demand stimulated by the World War. The Federal Government in 1913 undertook, in cooperation with the state of Para, an ambitious plan for the relief of the indus- try, involving reductions in export duties, developments of trans- portation facilities, and the establishment of an experiment station. But, although a few plantations have been created, there is as yet little improvement in the industry at large. The " rubber " state of Para will probably be forced to direct its attention in part to the production of other crops, such as cereals, sugar, mandioca and various vegetable fibres.
The exports of Para rubber and their value during the years 1915-9 were as follows:
Metric tons Value
1915 1916
7,039,697 7,496,386 7,484,170 3,998,770 6,239,794
35,165 . ....... 31,495
33,998
1918 ......... 22,662
1919 ....... 33,252
In Parana the lumber industry, while still in its infancy, was making rapid progress in 1920. Two large saw-mills, recently erected and equipped with the most modern North American machinery, were cutting Parana pine and shipping the product to other parts of the country and to Argentina. Cedar for the manufacture of cigar boxes was also being shipped from this state to Rio de Janeiro and Bahia. Brazil has very great wealth in fibre and wood-pulp for paper- making, especially in the huge pine forests of Parana and Santa
Catharina. In 1921 only common grades such as wrapping paper were manufactured, but enough newsprint could be produced to supply the entire republic and even neighbouring nations, as Argen- tina and Uruguay. Another valuable forest production of Parana is mate or Paraguay tea, most of which is purchased by Argentina, Uruguay and Chile. Over 76,000 tons were exported in 1916, and 90,000 tons in 1919, representing a value of 1,885,000 and 3,200,000 respectively.
Minerals. Lack of transportation and high export duties still serve to check the exploitation of Brazil's immense mineral resources. Gold and diamonds are now produced only in small quantities. Minas Geraes possesses considerable deposits of iron ore, which are being carefully examined by foreign experts, and plans are on foot for the erection of modern furnaces. The output of manganese ore, mostly in the states of Minas Geraes and Bahia, increased rapidly during the World War, rising to 532,855 tons in 1917, the major part going to the United States. The production of mica was also greatly stimulated, exports increasing from 51 tons in 1915 to 162 tons in 1918. The world's supply of monazite sand comes largely from Brazil, although its exportation declined during the World War. There are coal deposits in Rio Grande do Sul, Parana, Santa Cathar- ina and elsewhere, but most of it is of poor quality. In March 1918 the Federal Government offered assistance in the way of loans to coal-mining enterprises whose output exceeded 150 tons a day. Most of the coal used for industrial purposes is still imported from England and the United States.
Manufactures. Factory products showed a marked development during 1910-20, especially after 1914 when the World War decreased the supply of goods from abroad. The city of Sao Paulo, rapidly becoming the chief industrial centre, claimed in 1920 over 350 fac- tories, large and small, with an investment of about 25,000,000. But manufacturing is also very active in the states of Minas Geraes and Rio de Janeiro, especially where water-power is accessible. Some of Brazil's industries, such as cotton textiles, tobacco and sugar, are natural to the country as they consume raw materials produced at home; others are at present purely artificial, encouraged by the protective barrier of heavy import duties from which the Federal Government secures the larger part of its revenues. In some indus- tries practically every item entering into the manufacture of their product comes from abroad. The textile industry has made greater progress perhaps than any other, chiefly in cotton goods, and in 1921 it accounted for about 40 % of the total production of manufactured articles. In 1905 there were no cotton mills in Brazil, with 26,420 looms and 734,928 spindles, representing a capital of 10,384,000, and producing nearly 264,000,000 yd. of cloth. In 1915 there were 240 mills, with 51,420 looms and 1,512,626 spindles, 21,596,000 capital, and an annual production of over 500,000,000 yards. The whole of this native textile production is sold in Brazil, supplying over 80 % of the fabrics used.
There are several large shoe factories in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. Brazil manufactures 97 % of its footwear. Great progress has been made in the tanning industry but owing to the inferior quality of native hides the output is confined mostly to sole and belting leather. The grazing regions of Rio Grande do Sul, however, produce fairly high-grade hides, and with importations from Uruguay and Argentina the tanners have begun to turn out a good quality of leather which competes with imported stock. The principal tanneries are in or near Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, but there are a number of small establishments in Rio Grande and Porto Alegre and in a few of the northern cities. In 1919 sole leather was exported to the value of 246,692. It seemed probable that within a few years Brazil would become a producer of rubber goods as well as of the crude "Para." There were already in 1921 a few 1 small rubber fac- tories in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, doing an increasing business, and a North American rubber corporation was about to erect a large factory near Rio for the manufacture of tires.
Commerce. The value of Brazilian imports and exports during the years 1910-9 is shown in the following table:
Imports
Exports
Total
1910 1911 1912
1913 1914
1915
1916
1917 1918
1919
47,872,000 52,822,000 63,425,000 67,166,000 35473,000 30,088,000 40,369,000 44,510,000 52,817,000 78,177,000
63,092,000 66,839,000 74,649,000 65,451,000 46,803,000 53,951,000 56,462,000 63,031,000 61,168,000 130,085,000
110,964,000 119,661,000 138,074,000 132,617,000 82,276,000 84,039,000 96,831,000 107,541,000 113,985,000 208,262,000
Arranged by countries of origin or destination, the figures for 1916-9 are given in 'the tables on the next page. The effect of the rise in prices is shown, of course, in the period after the war started ; and this superficially neutralizes to some extent in money-value the effect of the restrictions on over-sea trade. The jump in the figures from 1918 to 1919 represents the freeing of commerce combined with the rise in prices, particularly in the case of France, America and Great Britain.
