'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. I. 1918' [‎211] (220/568)

M
COMMEECE AND INDUSTRY 211
Swedish iron and steel had ousted the English products from this
market.
Timber. The plains of Mesopotamia are practically treeless except
where there are date-palms, and Irak and Arabistan depend on
impoi ted timber. A large part of the wood brought to Basra was
used for date-boxes ; timber is also imported for house and boat
building. The import of wood for date-boxes to Basra amounted in
a normal year to between 250,000 and 300,000 bundles valued at
£110,000-150,000. The import of planks varied between 130,000 and
570,000 valued at £20,000-85,000. The timber brought to Baghdad
market in 1912 and 1913 was worth <£15,000-16,000 in each of these
years. The import of wood to Arabistan for 1910-11 was 870 tons
(£5,598); for 1911-12, 671 tons (£5,428); for 1912-13, 1,832 tons
(£15,455)—an increase due to the extension of Mohammareh town,
and the growth of the boat-building industry there.
The wood for date-boxes came from Austria-Hungary, Scandinavia,
and Russia. India apparently exported a good deal of wood for
boat-building, &c., to Basra and Mohammareh, but at Baghdad, after
monopolizing the timber market, had lost it entirely in 1912-13 to
Russia, whose cheap white woods supplied 94 per cent, of the
import.
Coffee. The coffee imported to Basra amounted on an average to
about 14,000 bags a year, the quantities varying between 8,000 and
18,000 bags (valued at £33,000-73,000). At Baghdad the import varied
between 4,000 and 11,000 bags (valued at £16,000-17,000). The value
of the coffee brought to the Diarbekr market was estimated at
£10,000 ; at Mosul the import was estimated at £2,000-4,500,
The coffee sent to Mesopotamia was mostly Brazilian-grown and
imported from the United Kingdom, which had about 66 per cent,
of the trade to Baghdad. Brazilian coffee was also shipped from
Hamburg and Marseilles. India was credited with about 20-22 per
cent, of the import to Baghdad in 1911-13, and the whole of the
import to Mosul.
Tea. —The consumption of tea among the Arabs in Mesopotamia and
Arabistan. has been increasing. The amount imported to Basra in a
normal year was about 19,000-20,000 cases valued at £24,000-25,000.
An import to Baghdad of about 18,000 cases was valued at about
£81,000. The tea passing through Mohammareh into Arabistan in
1910-11 was 142 tons (£15,209); in 1911-12, 106 tons (£10,341);
in 1912-13, 64 tons (£10,626) ; but large quantities were smuggled
into the country owing to the high duties levied by the Persian
Customs. There was a small, slowly increasing import to Diarbekr
valued at £1,100 in 1912, and at £1,300 in 1913,
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