ABSTRACT
This chapter is a case study of marketing and competition which focuses on Anglo-Japanese rivalry for domination of the Chinese refined sugar market in the early twentieth century. Refined sugar imported into China was mainly supplied by Japanese refineries such as Dai-Nihon Seitō Kabushiki Kaisha (Dai-Nihon Sugar Co.), Meiji Seitō Kabushiki Kaisha (Meiji Sugar Co.) and Taiwan Seitō Kabushiki Kaisha (Taiwan Sugar Co.) and by two British refineries in Hong Kong, Jardine, Matheson & Co.’s China Sugar Refining Co. and Butterfield & Swire’s Taikoo Sugar Refining Co. The China Sugar Refining Co. was established in 1878 with an initial capital of HK$600,000, taking over the China Sugar Refinery which had been under the control of Jardine, Matheson & Co. since 1872. The Taikoo Sugar Refining Co. was established in 1881 with an initial capital of £198,000, in order to challenge Jardine’s monopoly of the sugar market.
