著者

高橋 周

出版者

社会経済史学会

雑誌

社會經濟史學 (ISSN:00380113)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.72, no.1, pp.27-46, 2006-05-25

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The purpose of this paper is to clarify the causes of increase in Japan's import of fertilizers from 1904 to 1913, mainly considering its relationship to the global market. This paper focuses on three types of fertilizers: bean oil cake, fish oil cake, and ammonium sulfate. While bean oil cake was the most popular nitrogenous fertilizer that farmers bought during this period, fish oil cake had been used during the 19th century, and ammonium sulfate became popular after World War I. The import of the three fertilizers suddenly began increasing during (or after) the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905), a trend that continued until 1907. From 1908, when the Japanese economy was in depression, there was competition among the three fertilizers, and the use of bean oil cake and ammonium sulfate increased, while that of fish oil cake decreased. The prices, which were determined by the global trade, influenced this competition. Japanese agriculture acquired a stable supply of various fertilizers by purchasing widely from throughout world. Bean oil cake shared half of the fertilizer import during this period, which was the result of the rational choices taken with the global market in mind.