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 _resume_ 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. _Total _Retained in _Home Year. Imported_ the country_ Consumption_ tons. tons. 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.