Coll 28/41 ‘Persia. Trade Reports. Kerman 1924–’ [‎38v] (76/313)

together with the figures of the previous year. App
endix “B” supplies details of imports and exports
for various commodities. Appendix “ C ” is a com
parative statement of imports from the British
Empire and other sources.
It will be seen from these that foreign trade has
been hard hit, with the exception of the increased
importation of tea, loaf sugar, pepper, cotton piece-
goods and machinery.
The following two policies of the State are great
ly responsible for the elemination of foreign interests
in trade with Iran, viz .—
(1) The formation of Monopoly Companies. Some
21 such companies have been formed in this area.
Their capital is subscribed partly by the general
public in the form of shares and partly by the
Government through the agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. of either the
National Bank of Iran or the Agricultural Bank.
The affairs of such Companies are controlled by
the Government.
These Companies are now endeavouring to es
tablish their own buying and selling agencies abroad
which will further minimise the chances of free trade.
(2) The promulgation of the foreign Exchange
Control Act where^by all transactions in foreign
exchange must be carried out with the previous
assent of and under the auspices of a Control Com
mission at the Capital, has further aggravated the
position.
The following is the irksome procedure which a
trader must adopt before importing goods:—
An import licence must be obtained from the
Department of Commerce, which can only be issued
with the sanction of the Exchange Control Commis
sion at Tehran. On receipt of this licence the
trader then prepares his order for goods, giving
full particulars in a special form known as “Appli
cation for exchange for imports” which is forward
ed to the Exchange Commission, Tehran. When
permission is obtained, one of the two authorised
Banks issues a letter of credit for the sanctioned
amount of foreign exchange, provided the importer
(a) pays the premium of 25% of the sanctioned
amount in Rials and (6) produces the copy of the
order for goods showing the particulars of consign
ments and place of origin. The Bank then examines
the import licence in the possession of the importer
to ascertain that it covers the goods and prices
as invoiced, and it is after these preliminaries are
completed that the trader is in a position to order
the goods. He then sends the letter of credit to
the consignor who hands over the shipping documents
regarding the goods, together with the credit note
to the Bank abroad. This Bank, in its turn, ad
justs matters with the Bank in Iran which issued
the letter of credit.
The transactions of the import permit premia
were mostly conducted by the National Bank of
Iran at Kerman and Bandar Abbas and these
institutions retained a net profit of per cent,
between their buying and selling rates, for themselves.
Practically all exports from Kerman p rovinco
during the year were forwarded via Bandar Abbas,
hence the Kerman-Zahidan route lost its impor
tance as a route for export.
Germany enjoys a privileged position by the
terms of her recently concluded Treaty known as /
the “Irano German Tautteur Agreement” ha^^ht
on the barter system. Germany has captured aboui,
70% of the synthetic dye trade and has to some
extent ousted the Japanese and the Russians from ^;
the Iranian markets. This Agreement is also likely !-
to prove a source of danger to British interests in l
this province.
Appendix “C” shows a noticeable decline in the j
imports of British commodities, due to the demand ;
for German, Russian, and cheap Japanese goods. *
Of Russian goods, a few consignments of petrol,
kerosene oil, grease and lubricating oil and piece-
goods were imported from Tehran by the local
petty traders. The Soviet trade of cotton piece-
goods has received a severe setback due to the
market being flooded with Japanese goods of the
same kind but of cheaper price.
Credit facilities offeried by foreign firms are un
likely to produce a healthy influence owing to the
present stagnant condition of foreign trade. The
Japanese are often found willing to afford credit
facilities by taking one-third in cash and two-thirds
in Iranian products, but it appears that no local
merchant ever cares to take advantage of such
facilities. Local credit facilities might have the
desired effect, but so deteriorated is the Local com
mercial morality that even the Bank is over cau
tious in affording such facilities to reputed firms.
So, as matters stand at present it is doubtful whether
it would pay any British firm to establish a repre
sentative in this province.
In view of the dilatory methods employed in
the local judicial courts, commercial suits are pre
ferably settled by the Arbitrary Board under the
auspices of the local Chamber of Commerce, which
under the new Governor-General is working more
satisfactorily.
Agriculture.
Efforts are being made to improve agricultural
conditions and the area under cultivation in Kerman
is gradually increasing. It is, however, feared that
the present area, which is estimated to be some
200,000 acres, will not reach its normal produc
tion for some years yet, as the damage done to
many of the under-ground channels (qanats) during
the floods of 1932 has not yet been fully repaired
and some of these are considered to be totally
damaged. An official of the Central Irrigation
Monopoly Company visited Kerman during the
year and stayed for a few months during which
period he excavated several under-ground chan
nels as an experimental measure, but met with no
success. He was recalled to the Capital in