red from
previous years. It has been estimated that domestic consumption of
coffee would amount to a maximum of 25,000,000 pounds yearly, but may be
much less than that. The United States and France have in the past been
Venezuela's best customers.

COLOMBIA. Prior to 1912, the total production of coffee in Colombia was
around 80,000,000 pounds annually, of which some 3,000,000 or 4,000,000
pounds were consumed in the country itself. But in the last decade
production has been advancing rapidly, and the present production is the
heaviest in the history of the country. The industry has practically
grown up in the last seventy years, the exports for the decade 1852-53
to 1861-62 averaging only about 940,000 pounds; in the decade following,
about 5,700,000 pounds; and, in the ten years from 1872-73 to 1881-82,
about 12,600,000 pounds, according to an unofficial compilation.
Exportations had advanced to about 47,000,000 pounds by 1895; and to
80,000,000 pounds by 1906. As large quantities of Colombian coffee are
shipped out through Venezuela, and because of the lack of detailed
statistics in Colombia, the actual exportation each year is not easy to
determine; but the following figures, obtained by a trade commissioner
of the United States, may be taken as a fairly accurate estimate of
exports from 1906 to 1918:

COLUMBIAN COFFEE EXPORTS
_Year_ _Sacks (138 lbs.)_

1906 605,705
1907 541,300
1908 577,900
1909 673,350
1910 543,000
1911 601,600
1912 888,800
1913 972,000
1914 983,000
1915 1,074,600
1916 1,153,000
1917 1,093,000
1918 1,102,000

[Illustration: No. 3--BRAZIL'S COFFEE EXPORTS, 1850-1920

Diagram based on 5-year averages with quantities given in millions of
pounds]

ECUADOR. Annual production in Ecuador runs from 3,000,000 to 8,000,000
pounds, most of which is exported. The greater part of the production is
sent to Chile and the United States. Production has shown only a gradual
increase since the middle of the nineteenth century, when planters began
to give some attention to coffee cultivation. Exports were about 87,000
pounds in 1855; 296,000 pounds in 1870; and 985,000 pounds in 1877. By
the beginning of the present century, production had reached 6,204,000
pounds; in 1905, it was estimated at 4,861,000 pounds; and