HE development  of  the fermentation citric acid industry during  the  past  decade  has  aroused a  great deal  of T  interest throughout this country and in Europe.  The successful commercial  production  of  this acid  from sugar by a mold fermentation process, both in this country and abroad, has brought  about an entirely new  situation with  respect  to world  trade in this commodity.  Formerly,  the raw material, calcium  citrate,  was produced  almost entirely from citrus products,  Italy being by far  the largest producer. 33295
The bulk of  the  Italian  production  of  calcium  citrate  was formerly shipped to England, France, and the United States.  Because of  the development of  the  fermentation process in this country and  our  increased  output  of  citrous materials,  imports  of citric  acid  and  calcium  citrate into  the United  States have practically  ceased  since  1927.  The  fermentation  process has also been developed  in Europe to a  large extent.  Large quantities of  the fermentation acid are produced  in England, Belgium, Czechoslovakia,  and  probably  Russia,  although complete  production  figures  are  not  available.  The  former dominant  position  occupied  by  the  Italian  producers  of  this commodity has thus been  lost  through  new methods  intro- duced  by  scientific  research.  The  development  of  the fermentation  process  for  citric acid  and the  various factors which  stimulated  and  brought  about the  substantial  dis- placement  of  the natural product  are interesting. Fermentation Citric Acid in World Trade A  number  of  factors  were  responsible for  the  changes which have taken place with respect to foreign  trade in citric acid.  In  1922  Italy  produced  about  90  per  cent  of  the world  supply  of  calcium  citrate,  the  raw material  for  citric acid production.  Other  countries,  including  the  United States, were  largely  dependent  on  the  Italian producers  for their  supplies  of  this material.  Sales  of  calcium  citrate in Italy  for  both  the domestic  and  foreign markets were con- trolled by the Camera Agrumaria of Messina,  a central  sales organization formed  in  1908 by  the  Italian  Government  to protect  the small producers  by maintenance  of  a  profitable and  fixed  price. Various schemes  of  price  fixing,  export taxes, and methods of  payment  to the producers were used  to regulate  and  control  the  market,  but  none  met  with  any degree of  success.  After  1922 shipments of  Italian calcium citrate and citric acid  to the United States, formerly  the best market,  began  to decline.  This  decline must  be  attributed in part to the Tariff Act of  1922 which increased  the duty on citric acid  from  5  to  17  cents  per  pound  and  on  calcium citrate  from  1 to  7  cents per  pound,  the  large  increase  in acreage  of  bearing  lemon  trees  in  California,  our  increased imports of  concentrated  lemon juice, and last, but not  least, the large-scale manufacture of  fermentation citric acid which began  in  1923.  The  change which  took  place  can  be  seen from the  import  figures for citric  acid  and  calcium  citrate in Table  I.  柠檬酸工业英文文献和中文翻译:http://www.youerw.com/fanyi/lunwen_30316.html