*Coöperative Purchasing and Marketing Organizations Among Farmers in the United States, Bulletin No. 547 (1917). Marketing Grain at Country Points, Bulletin No. 558 (1917). *United States Industrial Commission: Distribution and Marketing of Farm Products, Part 2 (1901). *United States Monthly Summary of Commerce and Finance (December issue for years 1905-1911). See also Bibliography on Grain Exchanges, pp. 204, 205. CHAPTER V PRIMARY AND SEABOARD GRAIN MARKETS (CONCLUDED) Two important phases of the grain trade as conducted at the terminal markets of the United States which have thus far been referred to but briefly are (1) grain exporting and (2) the determination of grain prices. THE GRAIN EXPORT TRADE The Grain Export Fundamentals.-The fundamental conditions upon which grain exports are based are principally threefold. First, the United States has for many years produced a surplus of grain, particularly of wheat, over and above domestic requirements. This surplus which in a general way is measured by the percentage of the yearly crop exported to foreign markets and by the combined foreign shipments of grain and grain products as graphically shown in the case of wheat exports throughout the period from 1839 to 1921 in diagram No. II. There was a marked decline during the decade preceding the war and then a heavy increase. The trend of the future is uncertain, but it is probable that when world production, foreign market requirements and prices become fully adjusted to normal conditions, it may again be more in line with the pre-war period 1903 to 1913. The coarse grains have never entered into international commerce on so large a scale and, except in the case of rye during and since the war, exports from the United States comprise a comparatively small percentage of the total crop. The percentages exported in 1913, 1916 and 1921 are shown in table No. V. Second, there has for many years been a demand for American wheat and this has made it feasible to produce a surplus. The NET EXPORTS OF WHEAT FROM THE UNITED STATES; 1839, 1849-1921 BUSHELS NILLIONS AND PERCENTAGE OF CROP EXPORTED; 1839, 1849, 1859, 1866-1921 PER CERT 45 40 39 30 25 20 15 10 Prepared by U. S. Department of Agriculture. DIAGRAM II.-NET EXPORTS OF WHEAT FROM THE UNITED STATES AND PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL CROP EXPORTED. 1 Less than amount imported. As computed by Federal Trade Commission in Methods and Operations of Grain Exporters, Vol. I, p. 17. demand has come principally from Great Britain and the Western European countries which do not produce sufficient wheat for home requirement and regularly import wheat and flour from the United States and elsewhere. The United Kingdom, France, Italy, Switzerland and Portugal, the Netherlands and Belgium, Norway and Sweden and Germany have been the principal European markets; and substantial quantities have also been |