T able 71. Imports and Exports of Articles o f Food and Consumption.
Annually
Imports. Value in th o u san d s of
k ro n o r Exports. Value in th o u san d s of
k ro n o r
Excess of
Produce of
a g ricu ltu
r e and
fish in g
Colonial
produce
Other
comrnodities
T o tal
Produce of
ag ricu ltu
re and
fish in g
Colonial
produce
Other
commod
itie s
T o ta l
imports,
th o u s ands
of
k r
1871—75 . 36 876 37101 10 950 84927 1876—80 . 43 759 72 492 44323 40 604 55593 44 076 8 939 108608 48 846 97 1143 50086 58 522 1881—85 . 62436 40 604 13110 116150 47 803 177 2 274 50 254 65896 1886—90 . 46 036 50115 12151 108302 58 879 691 3 437 63007 45 295 1891—95 . 50304 47.688 12 071 110 063 74 480 1136 1203 76819 33 244 1896—00 . 61224 40 952 17 073 119249 53 362 301 1375 55038 64 211 1901—05 . 84 462 39 260 20 702 144424 46 884 468 2 509 49861 95 463 1906—10 . 79 880 44 759 21031 145 670 52 894 568 2 739 56201 89 469
1910 . . . 77 121 47 579 23 216 147 916 61 642 462 2145 64 249 83 667 1911 . . . 69 450 59 479 24301 153230 78 322 938 1958 81218 72 012 1912 . . . 91 720 60 306 26 328 178 354 88 404 752 1603 90 759 87595 1913. . . 94116 60 086 26 845 181 047 84 483 686 1652 86821 94 226
The dairy-farming industry has already been dealt with in the previous
pages.
A. survey of the imports and exports of Sweden, of articles belonging
to this group, is given in Table 71 above.
' Sweden is, therefore, obliged constantly to purchase articles of food, on
a considerably larger scale than it can export the same articles. The
amount of the difference is shown by. the last column of Table 71 above.
Even if we deduct what is called colonial produce, the most important of
which is coffee -— of which, in 1906—10, the imports amounted on an
average to 32 million kronor annually, and in 1913 to 39-4 million kronor
•— there is still a considerable excess of imports. This, it is true, is diminished
by the export-excess of living cattle, but, on the other hand, is
increased to a still higher degree by a very great excess of imports for
cattle-fodder, which, in 1913, amounted to about 30 million kronor.
Flour Mills.
In all parts of Sweden there are numerous mills, usually rather small,
to which the people of the neighbourhood take their corn to be ground.
These mills are, as a rule, driven by the waterfalls along the streams and
rivers in which Sweden abounds. It is only along the coasts and in a
few provinces, such as Skane and Vastergdtland, which have large expanses
of flat country, that windmills are found, owing to the dearth of water
falls. In spite of the improved construction of both water motors and
wind motors, whereby the mills have been enabled to utilize the forces of
nature to better effect, steam has gradually made its way into the mill
industry, and to some extent modified its character: for steam mills
can be erected anywhere, even in large commercial centres, where the mill
industry is always combined with the flour trade. Many a farmer who
used to have corn for his own household ground at the nearest mill, now
finds it worth his while to sell his corn and buy his flour. The chief
reason is that the flour from the industrial mills, especially wheaten flour,
is greatly superior in quality to home-ground flour; this is due to the
fact that the industrial mills do not take their corn from one district
only, but blend together corn from places far apart; thus the occasional
differences in quality are to great extent neutralized. Further, Swedish
wheat does not, on the whole, possess the most suitable composition for
baking purposes: in order to produce a really good baking flour,
it is necessary to blend it with harder kinds (richer in gluten) e. g.
Russian wheat. For this reason a great deal of Russian or Hungarian
flour used to be imported and mixed at the bakeries with the Swedish.
The advent of industrial mills has changed this: the corn itself is now
imported. By dint of judicious selection the industrial mills can now
obtain a mixture which yields a flour satisfying the most exacting requirements,
and since at present there is only a small quantity of flour produced
solely from Swedish wheat, the importation of highly glutinous flour is
no longer necessary.
Although rye is, in point of quantity, the most widely used grain in Sweden
for breadmaking purposes, the output of rye flour from the industrial mills is
generally o f secondary importance. The explanation of this is that only a small
proportion of rye-flour consists of sifted flour. The national “hard bread” (hart
brod), which is the bread par excellence in the •country districts, is made almost
solely of bolted flour. As the making of such flour is a very simple process,
and therefore suitable for very small mills, the farmers generally have their
rye ground to bolted flour at the small mills in their own districts. In the year
1912 there were 1 356 mills with - 1 822 pairs of rollers and 4 724 pairs of
stones. The whole output was 5 969 878 quintals of flour, groats, bran and
grits, of which 3 999 486 quintals were flour; among the larger mills of Sweden
may be mentioned: Saltsjokvarn and Tre Kronor in Stockholm, Uppsala Ang-
kvarn (steam: mill), J. G. Swarts’ Kvarnverk, Norrkoping, Kalmar Angkvam,
Marten Persons Valskvam (roller mill), Kristianstad, Tralleborgs Angkvarn, Malmd
Stora Valskvarn.
The development of the mill industry during the last years is shown by
Table 72.
As shown in the Table 72 the import of flour, groats and bran has decreased
in recent times. As the import of unmilled grain has at any rate not decreased,
T able 72. The Mill Industry.
A n n u a l l y
Number of
mills
Number of
workmen
Output
q u in ta ls
Value of
o u tp u t
thou san d s
o f kr.
Im p o rt
q u in ta ls
E x p o rt
q u in ta ls
1901—05 1627 4 481 5 410 228 92 243 1208 185 61526
1906—10 ................ 1447 4 161 5 509 807 105 777 1058 918 66 513
1 9 1 0 ........................ 1384 3 975 5 612 283 106 392 1176 667 56 241
1 9 1 1 ........................ 1381 4 017 5 799 076 108 613 761 891 122 972
1 9 1 2 ........................ 1356 4 003 5 969 878 118 194 818 728 305127