TABLE 102.-Value of shipments of food and related products from Puerto Rico to the United States, 1948-54

In 1952 a total of 28 of the 195 companies in the food industry— regularly ship out all or part of their output and have a significant proportion of their employees subject to the wage requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act; the rest engage in limited, if any, interstate or foreign commerce.35

Of these 28 firms 6 are in fruit and vegetable canning, except pineapple.

Two are engaged in sweetpotato canning, 3 primarily in canning green pigeon peas, and 1 in canning a wide variety of native food specialties, as well as some preserves, jellies and sirups. The firms are fairly large in employee size compared to Puerto Rican food products processors generally, with the largest company employing 102 workers and the smallest 38 workers.36

Five of these six plants are tax exempt and one had applied for a tax exemption in June 1955.

Two of the twenty-eight firms engaged in interstate commerce are packing purchased fruits and vegetables for shipment from the island. These 2 firms are small, the largest employs 8 workers.

Five firms are producing preserves, jellies, sirups and nectars. Four of these these are small, having a peak employment of not more than 25, 1 firm is large with a little over 60 workers. Four of these five firms are tax exempt.

Three establishments can pineapple (May 1954). They employed 543 production workers, 307 females and 236 males. Only 1 of these, employing an average of 240 workers, cans pineapple for shipments outside the island.

As already indicated, pineapples are the major fruit shipped to the mainland. In 1954 almost $1 million worth of pineapples were shipped to the mainland in processed form (canned and juice) and almost three-quarters of a million dollars in fresh fruit. These values amount to about three-fourths of the value of Puerto Rican fruit shipments to the mainland. (See table 102.)

The processing plants are used largely as a secondary outlet and there always is great uncertainty as to the volume of the output from these facilities***the best fruit moves to the fresh market and any that cannot be sold in fresh form becomes available for processing. When prices for fresh pineapples are high, the amount of fruit that goes into the processing plants is small.37

Table 103 illustrates the position of Puerto Rico in the mainland market. In 1953 Puerto Rico accounted for about one-third of the United States receipts of fresh pineapple but only for about 5 percent of prepared pineapple. Cuba is the major supplier of fresh pineapple, with Mexico being third in line (after Puerto Rico). The Philippine Republic sends the bulk of the prepared pineapples. It should be noted in passing that Hawaii produces 80 to 90 percent of the total United States pineapple demand. Puerto Rico grows a red Spanish variety of pineapple

which is a rounder, thicker-skinned, deeper-eyed pineapple than the smooth Cayenne variety grown in Hawaii. The red Spanish variety is not as suitable for canning as the smooth Cayenne variety, which is relatively long, slender shaped. thin skinned, and shallow eyed, and is sometimes facetiously described as grown to fit the can.38

35 Ibid., p. 18. 25 Ibid., p. 18. #Ibid., p. 23. #Ibid., p. 25.

TABLE 103.-Value of United States receipts of fresh and prepared pineapples from Puerto Rico and foreign countries, 1950-54

Source: Data other than those for Puerto Rico from U. S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, United States Imports of Merchandise for Consumption. Report No. FT110. Data for Puerto Rico from table 6.

Only one firm is at present engaged in the processing of coconuts for shipments. Two firms went out of business. Though coconuts have second place among fruit crops in Puerto Rico (see table 100), shipments of processed coconuts to the mainland are small. Before World War II fresh coconuts were mainly shipped to the mainland. Processing became important during the war when the Philippine Islands ceased to supply the mainland market. But when the Philippine industry recuperated from the war losses, the shipments from Puerto Rico to the mainland declined sharply. While being a minor supplier of processed coconuts, Puerto Rico remained a major source of coconuts in the shell. Shipments to the mainland increased from year to year since 1950 and amounted to about three-fourths of a million dollars in 1954. (See table 102.)

in

None of the firms. workers, a slacksize has a peak The 3 remaining Three

Five firms are shipping citrons outside the island. is large. The largest has a peak employment of 35 period employment of 18 workers. The firm next employment of 20, and 4 workers in the off season. firms have 5 or less workers even during the peak season. firms are tax-exempt.

Citrons are mainly grown in the upland regions around Ajuntas. They are a less crop in Puerto Rico (see table 100) but they are one of the more important fruit exports. As table 102 shows, they ranked third among the fruits in value of shipment (1954). Between 1948 and 1954, their value of shipment nearly doubled. In 1954 it amounted to approximately $400,000.

As table 104 shows, Puerto Rico is the major source of citrons for the mainland.

1950..

1951.

1952.

1953.

1954

1 From table 6.

TABLE 104.-Shipments of crude, citrons, dried or in brine

2 From U. S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, United States Imports of Merchandise for Consumption, Report No. FT 110.

3 Breakdown by country of origin not available.

Let us now turn our attention to coffee.

The production of coffee takes about one-fifth of the net area used for crops in Puerto Rico, and is concentrated in the highlands of the west central region of the island. It is the most important single crop after sugarcane, in terms of value of production and land area devoted to cultivation.39

Coffee is also "the largest single food product exported from Puerto Rico to foreign countries" 40 and the largest single food crop sold to the mainland.

In 1954 the value of shipments to the mainland was $7 million (see table 102), practically all green coffee. In terms of the total imports of the United States the imports from Puerto Rico are but a small fraction of total imports, less than 1 percent of the value of coffee imported to the United States.

Imports to the mainland are duty free, but there is a special duty on import of raw or green coffee to Puerto Rico in order to protect the industry on the island.

In spite of the importance of coffee as an export crop very little is shipped in processed form. As a result only two firms are engaged in processing of coffee. One of these is a cooperative, the other a corporation. Both employed 13 workers during January. It is not known how many workers they employ during the peak season-October and November.

The 6 remaining firms are in the following branches of the food industry: 3 firms in confectionary and related products, 1 firm in biscuits and crackers, 1 firm in nonalcoholic beverages, and 1 firm in tunafish processing. Because of the variety of products and the relatively small value of shipments in interstate commerce, these six firms are not specially surveyed here. Four out of these six firms are known to be tax-exempt.