What is a long hundredweight?
A long hundredweight, also known as the imperial hundredweight, is the hundredweight of the United Kingdom and, despite the name, is not 100 pounds. The 100 pound version is the short hundredweight used in the United States.
It is equivalent to 112 pounds or approximately 50.802 kilograms. The long hundredweight is often used in trade and commerce for measuring bulk goods such as grains, coal, and other commodities.
To get metric tons, multiply long hundredweights by 0.0508, since one is about 50.802 kilograms and a metric ton is 1,000 – 5 long hundredweights is about 0.254 metric tons. Dividing by 20 gives long tons instead, because 20 hundredweights make a long ton.
There are two types of hundredweights
There are two types of hundredweights; long and short.
The long hundredweight, also known as the imperial hundredweight, is 112 pounds or about 50.802 kilograms, so 20 of them make a long ton.
The short hundredweight, also known as the net hundredweight, is the American one and is exactly 100 pounds, so 20 of them make a short ton. Milk and cattle prices in the United States are still quoted per hundredweight.