Note 18 — V. The Nineteenth Century and Economic Development

Taking the increase of exports as an indication of greater agricultural and commercial activity, we find that, with the opening of the ports, exports increased; and these now consisted of the products of the country, instead of manufactured goods brought from elsewhere in the Orient.18 By 1839, the Philippines exported 2,674,220 pesos of her own products, as against 500,000 pesos in 1810.19 Sugar in 1782, was the only product which was attracting any attention, because at the time, thirty-thousand piculs of it had been exported; in 1840, 146,661 piculs were exported; in 1854 the amount had increased to 566,371, almost four times greater than in 1840; and in 1857 the amount reached 714,059 piculs.20 Similarly, the amount of hemp exported increased, in spite of the fact that it found its way in the world’s market for the first time only in the early part of the nineteenth century.21