Coll 30/80 'Trade: Reports on Persian Gulf Market and trading possibilities' [‎133v] (267/712)

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In the absence of customs statistics it is not possible to give
an accurate analysis of the trade of Busbire, but details from the
shipping lists, without specifying weights and values, give some
idea of the general trend of imports and exports.
Imports. —The number of packages of sugar (crystal and loaf)
shown as having been landed at Bushire increased from 91,719
in the Persian Year 1311 (21st March, 1932—20th March, 1933) to
129,595 in the year 1312 (21st March, 1933—20th March, 1934)
of cotton piece-goods from 23,039 to 26,708; of matches from 2,58^^^
to 5,923; of cement from 2,334 to 3,417. Imports of tea, which
came mostly from India, declined from 9,689 packages in 1932-33
to 8,663 packages in 1933-34. Piece-goods were imported chiefly
from Japan and only in small quantities from India and the United
Kingdom. Crystal sugar came in recent months almost entirely
from Java and loaf sugar from Antwerp and Marseilles. The
amount of cement imported through Bushire was small compared
with the amount imported through Mohammerah, but recently
1,000 tons were landed by an Italian steamer for the construction
of a new sugar factory An East India Company trading post. near Shiraz.
Approximately forty motor cars, mostly of American manufac
ture, were imported during each of the years 1932-33 and 1933-34
but the number of lorries and trucks increased from 15 in the
former year to 77 in the latter, and this increase may be expected
to continue in view of the Government’s decision last January to
make importers purchase dollars at the official rate (rials 28.28 to
the dollar) for only 20 per cent, of the value of motor cars and
lorries instead or for the whole value as previously.
Exports. —The amount of tobacco exported fell from 28,472 bales
in 1932-33 to 600 bales in 1933-34. In October, 1934, however,
a shipment of 18,000 bales was made by Italian steamer to Beirut.
Reckoning in packages, exports of gum tragacanth increased
from 11,703 in 1932-33 to 20,550 in 1933-34, whilst those of skins,
dried fruits and almonds also showed an increase. The principal
countries to which gum was exported were the United Kingdom,
India, Germany and the United States of America.
Owing to the lack of demand from the European and American
markets there was a big falling off in the export of carpets—
1,808 bundles in 1933-34 as compared with 2,700 in the previous
year.
III.—MOHAMMERAH.
General. —Mohammerah, situated at the confluence of the Karun
River and the Shatt-al-Arab, has in recent years become the fore
most Persian port in the Gulf. In 1932-33 the value of merchandise
imported amounted to over 112 million Rials and it is expected that
the 1933-34 figures, when published, will exceed that amount.
Exports are also expected to show an increase over the 1932-33
figure of 17 million Rials.