ht percent over 1920 shipments; and, although the value was
less than in the year before, the decrease was only ten percent in a
year when the average fall in value was forty-three percent.

It will be news to many people interested in the coffee trade that the
value of Colombian coffee now imported into the United States is almost
half the value of the Brazilian coffee--$37,000,000 as compared with
$77,000,000. The number of pounds imported is a little less than
one-third the Brazilian contribution; but at the present rate of
increase, it will pass the half mark in a few years.

Colombia and Venezuela together now supply considerably more than half
as much coffee as Brazil in value, and more than one-third as much in
quantity. The average value of Colombian coffee in 1921 was about
fifteen cents a pound, as compared with eleven cents for Venezuelan,
nine cents for Brazilian, ten cents for Central American, and ten and
six-tenths cents for total coffee imports.

Shipments from Venezuela showed a drop in quantity of nine percent as
compared with 1920 imports, being 59,783,303 pounds valued at
$6,798,709; in 1920 they were 65,970,954 pounds valued at $13,802,995;
and in 1919, they were 109,777,831 pounds valued at $23,163,071.

The figures relating to imports from Central America are of interest as
showing to what extent we are continuing to hold the trade of the war
years, when nearly all coffee shipped from that region came to the
United States. Although there has probably been a considerable swing
back to the trade with Europe, the 1921 figures show that a large
percent of the trade that this country gained during the war is being
retained. Imports in 1921 were considerably lower than in 1920 or in
1919, but were still more than three times as heavy as in 1913, the last
year of normal trade.

The displacement of Central America's trade by the war, and the extent
to which it has so far returned to old channels, are illustrated in the
table of Imports into the United States from Central America in the last
nine years on page 301.

As Germany was very prominent in pre-war trade, it is likely that more
and more coffee will be diverted from the United States as German
imports gradually increase to their old level.

IMPORTS INTO THE UNITED STATES FROM
CENTRAL AMERICA

_Year_ _Pounds_ _Value_
1913 36,326,440 $4,635,359
1914 44,896,856 5,465,893
1915 71,361,2