Coll 28/38 ‘Persia. Trade. Trade Tables 1929/30 to’ [‎194r] (387/483)

THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY’S GOVERNMENT
J'. z. l
PERSIA. H-l’CO
$
May 4, 1936.
CONFIDENTIAL.
Section 3.
[E 2480/735/34]
Copy No*
Mr. Butler to Mr. Eden.—(Received May 4.)
(No. 180 E.)
Sir, Tehran, April 11 , 1936.
WITH reference to Sir Hughe Knatehbull-Hugessen's despatch No. 166 E.
of the 13th April, 1935, I have the honour to transmit to you under separate
cover three copies of the Tableau general issued by the Iranian Customs
Administration for the economic year June 1934 to June 1935, together with a
memorandum by the acting commercial secretary on the foreign trade of Iran
during that period.
2. The statistics show a slight decrease in commercial imports, whilst non-
dutiable imports, at 174,822,178 rials (£2,342,519), were nearly double the value
in rials of similar imports in the previous year, mainly due to heavy imports by
the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company and for Government requirements. Imports
of gold, valued at 44,532,423 rials (£596,709), were considerably less than the
abnormal amount of 143,480,553 rials (£1,783,000) in 1933-34.
3 . Exports show healthy increases in commercial merchandise and shipments
of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company as well as of the Caspian Sea Fisheries.
4. Excluding oil shipments and non-dutiable imports (including gold), an
adverse balance to Iran of 69,763,913 rials (£934,800) is revealed, as compared
with an adverse balance of 139 million rials (£1,732,000) in the previous year.
5. The Soviet Union regained ground lost in the previous years, her share
of the total trade, exclusive of exports of oil, rising from 20 per cent, to over
30 per cent. She captured, chiefly at the expense of Japan, the United Kingdom
and India, nearly 55 per cent, of the cotton piece-goods market.
6 . Imports from the United Kingdom amounted to 94,810,000 (£1,270,394),
including 42,810,560 rials (£573,637) of gold bars. Commercial imports fell from
63 million rials (£783,100) to 52 million rials (£696,757), accounted for by the
drop in imports of cotton piece-goods.
7. The origin of non-dutiable imports is not shown in the Tableau general,
but, as such imports by the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company alone amounted to nearly
140 million rials (£1,873,550), actual imports from the United Kingdom must
have exceeded imports from the Soviet Union, whose “commercial” imports are
shown as 193 million (£2,586,743). Trade between the United Kingdom and
Iran, exclusive of gold and non-dutiable imports and of the Anglo-Iranian Oil
Company’s oil shipments, resulted in a small adverse balance to Iran of 1,581,000
rials (£21,185).
8 . Imports from India and Ceylon dropped from 64-4 million rials
(£805,000) to 57-6 million rials (£771,860) : Germany and Japan also lost ground,
whilst the United States of America figures rose partly owing to increased
imports of automobiles.
9. I am sending copies of this despatch to the Department of Overseas
Trade (unnumbered), to the Foreign Secretary to the Government of India, to
His Majesty’s Ambassador at Bagdad, No. 33, and to the Hon. the Political
Resident in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , No. 31.
I have, &c.
NEVILE BUTLER,
[715 d—3
B