Coll 30/80 'Trade: Reports on Persian Gulf Market and trading possibilities' [‎4r] (8/712)

CONFIDENTIAL
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BAHRAIN
. Dated the k&th March 1948
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^r\ General Money of the Ministry of Transport has asked nfe^ to
V ^supply him with information through the Commonwealth Relations .
Office on the following points: C^G
(a) the present state of trade in^^e. t (^ujlf, H(M(
(b) how much is catered for by British services,
(c) whether local British services^nd their agents need
to show more energy, /3.
(d) what long-term developments seem likely, and
(e) whether any Scindia vessels are coming up the Gulf.
2. With regard to (a): Practically speaking, the only exports
are (i) oil (ii) pearls (iii) dates and (iv) dried fish. Details
of oil shipments are given in reports received from the Bahrain
Petroleum Company and the Kuwait Oil Company. Pearls do not call
for anything in the way of shipping and in any case their import to
India at present is mere or less prohibited. Restrictions imposed
by the Government of India on the import of dates from the Batinah
by steamer, which may be aimed at the B.I.S.N. Company, have result
ed in their being exported almost exclusively by country craft.
I am not well acquainted with the details of the dried fish trade
but I think certain quantities are exported by steamer from Muscat
and Gwadur and that apart from this a good deal is carried in
country craft. On the import side it has to be remembered that
the population of the Gulf States is very small and that the most
important ports i.e. Bahrain, Kuwait and Dubai depend to a great
extent on their transit trade. G'oods are re-exported from Banrain
to Saudi Arabia (licit), and Persia (partly illicit)from Kuwait to
Saudi Arabia (licit) Iraq (illicit) and Persia (illicit) and from
Dubai to Persia (mostly illicit) and the interior (licit). At
present trade with Bahrain and Kuwait is brisk in imported goods
of all descriptions and owing to the ready availability of black
market dollars in both these places goods from America and other
hard currency countries are being imported in substantial quantities
Dubai is suffering from a depression owing to lack of employment
locally and the more effective steps that the Persians are at
present taking to prevent smuggling. At Muscat all the trade is ir.
the haiids of Indians and is at present more or less at a stand-still
as there is no local bank and the merchants can only operate on
their accounts in India with the express permission of the Reserve
Bank of India in each case.
3. The answer to (b) is that excluding oil shipments the bulk
of the trade which is not carried by country craft is catered for
by British services.
4. Messrs. Gray, Mackenzie & Co. have greatly increased their
staff at Bahrain and the complaints which were rife against them a
year or two ago have subsided. They are proposing to locate
European staff at Kuwait at an early date. At Muscat their local
manager is an Indian and the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. reports that he feels
that lack of competition has resulted in a certain lack of energy.
The B.I.S.N. Company have now started regular fortnightly calls in
each direction by their slow malls to India and these combined with
their excellent fast mail service to other ports is I think suffic
ient for present needs. Strick Scott boats visit the Gulf ports
direct from the U.K. fairly frequently but irregularly. A regular
passenger and mail service by Strick Scott boats to and from the
U.K. would be a great boon.
5. With regard to (d): Very rapid expansion is taking place
at Kuwait owing to the Oil Company's activities and population and
/trsdf
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