Chapter X The Consumption of Cacao
The Kernels that come to us from the Coast of Caraqua, are more oily, and less bitter, than those that come from the French Islands, and in France and Spain they prefer them to these latter. But in Germany and in the North (Fides sit penes autorem) they have a quite opposite Taste. Several People mix that of Caraqua with that of the Islands, half in half, and pretend by this Mixture to make the Chocolate better. I believe in the bottom, the difference of Chocolates is not considerable, since they are only obliged to increase or diminish the Proportion of Sugar, according as the Bitterness of the Kernels require it.
The Natural History of Chocolate, R. Brookes, 1730.
The war has caused such a disturbance that the statistics for the years of the war are difficult to obtain. For many years the German publication, the Gordian, was the most reliable source of cacao statistics, and so far we have nothing in England sufficiently comprehensive to replace it, although useful figures can be obtained from the Board of Trade returns of imports into Great Britain, from Mr. Theo. Vasmer’s reports which appear from time to time in The Confectioners’ Union and elsewhere, from Mr. Hamel Smith’s collated material in Tropical Life, and from the reports of important brokers like Messrs. Woodhouse. In 1919 the Bulletin of the Imperial Institute gave a very complete résumé of cacao production as far as the British Empire is concerned.
Great Britain
Since 1830 the consumption of cacao in the British Isles has shown a great and continuous increase, and there is every reason to believe that the consumption will easily keep pace with the rapidly growing production. One effect of the war has been to increase the consumption of cocoa and chocolate. Many thousands of men who took no interest in “sweets” learned from the use of their emergency ration that chocolate was a very convenient and concentrated foodstuff.
Cacao Beans Cleared for Home Consumption
| Year. | English Tons. | |
| 1830 | 450 | |
| 1840 | 900 | |
| 1850 | 1,400 | |
| 1860 | 1,450 | |
| 1870 | 3,100 | |
| 1880 | 4,700 | |
| 1890 | 9,000 | |
| 1900 | 16,900 | |
| 1910 | 24,550 |
Cacao Beans Imported Into United Kingdom
| Year. | Total Imported tons. | Retained in the country tons. | Home Consumption tons. |
| 1912 | 33,600 | 27,450 | 24,600 |
| 1913 | 35,000 | 28,200 | 23,200 |
| 1914 | 41,750 | 29,600 | 24,900 |
| 1915 | 81,800 | 54,400 | 40,300 |
| 1916 | 88,800 | 64,750 | 29,300 |
| 1917 | 57,900 | 53,100 | 41,300 |
The above figures are compiled from the Bulletin of the Imperial Institute (No. 1, 1919). The total imports for 1918 were 42,390 tons. This sudden and marked drop in the amount imported was due to shortage of shipping. There were, however, large quantities of cacao in stock, and the amount consumed showed a marked advance on previous years, being 61,252 tons.
The Board of Trade Returns for 1919 are as follow:
Cacao Beans Imported Into United Kingdom
| From | |
| British West Africa | 72,886 tons |
| British West Indies | 13,219 tons |
| Ecuador | 9,153 tons |
| Brazil | 3,665 tons |
| Ceylon | 903 tons |
| Other Countries | 13,820 tons |
| Total | 113,646 tons |
| Home Consumption | 64,613 tons |
It will be noted that the import of British cacao is over 75 per cent. of the total.
Before the war about half the cacao imported into the United Kingdom was grown in British possessions. During the war more and more British cacao was imported, and now that a preferential duty of seven shillings per hundredweight has been given to British Colonial growths we shall probably see a still higher percentage of British cacao consumed in the United Kingdom.
Value of Cacao Beans Imported Into the United Kingdom (to Nearest £1,000)
| Total value of Cacao | From British Possessions. | ||
| Year. | Beans Imported. | Value. | Per cent. |
| 1913 | £2,199,000 | £1,158,000 | 52.7 |
| 1914 | £2,439,000 | £1,204,000 | 49.4 |
| 1915 | £5,747,000 | £3,546,000 | 61.7 |
| 1916 | £6,498,000 | £4,417,000 | 68.0 |
| 1917 | £3,498,000 | £3,010,000 | 86.0 |
| 1918 | £3,040,000 | £2,549,000 | 83.8 |
| 1919 | £9,207,000 | £6,639,000 | 72.1 |
That the consumption of cacao is expected to grow greater yet in the immediate future is reflected in the prices of raw cacao, which, as soon as they were no longer fixed by the Government, rose rapidly, thus Accra cacao rose from 65s. per hundredweight to over 90s. per hundredweight in a few weeks, and now (January, 1920) stands at 104s. (See diagram p. 113).
World Consumption
The world’s consumption of cacao is steadily rising. Before the war the United States, Germany, Holland, Great Britain, France, and Switzerland were the principal consumers. Whilst we have increased our consumption, so that Great Britain now occupies second place, the United States has outstripped all the other countries, having doubled its consumption in a few years, and is now taking almost as much as all the rest of the world put together. It is thought that since America has “gone dry” this remarkably large consumption is likely to be maintained.
World’s Consumption of Cacao Beans
| (to the nearest thousand tons) 1 ton = 1000 kilograms. | ||||
| Pre-war | War Period | Post-war | ||
| Country. | 1913. Tons. | Average of 1914, 5, 6, &. 7. Tons. | 1918. Tons. | 1919. Tons. |
| U.S.A. | 68,000 | 103,000 | 145,000 | 145,000 |
| Germany | 51,000 | 28,000 | ? | 13,000 |
| Holland | 30,000 | 25,000 | 2,000 | 39,000 |
| Great Britain | 28,000 | 41,000 | 62,000 | 66,000 |
| France | 28,000 | 35,000 | 39,000 | 46,000 |
| Switzerland | 10,000 | 14,000 | 18,000 | 21,000 |
| Austria | 7,000 | 2,000 | ? | 2,000 |
| Belgium | 6,000 | 1,000 | 1,000 | 8,000 |
| Spain | 6,000 | 7,000 | 6,000 | 8,000 |
| Russia | 5,000 | 4,000 | ? | ? |
| Canada | 3,000 | 4,000 | 9,000 | ? |
| Italy | 2,000 | 5,000 | 6,000 | 6,000 |
| Denmark | 2,000 | 2,000 | 2,000 | ? |
| Sweden | 1,000 | 2,000 | 2,000 | ? |
| Norway | 1,000 | 2,000 | 2,000 | ? |
| Other countries (estimated) | 5,000 | 8,000 | 11,000 | 26,000 |
| Total | 252,000 | 283,000 | 305,000 | 380,000 |
The above figures are compiled chiefly from Mr. Theo. Vasmer’s reports. The Gordian estimates that the world’s consumption in 1918 was 314,882 tons. In several of our larger colonies and in at least one European country there is obviously ample room for increase in the consumption. When one considers the great population of Russia, four to five thousand tons per annum is a very small amount to consume. It is pleasant to think of cocoa being drunk in the icebound North of Russia—it brings to mind so picturesque a contrast: cacao, grown amongst the richly-coloured flora of the tropics, consumed in a land that is white with cold. When Russia has reached a more stable condition we shall doubtless see a rapid expansion in the cacao consumption.