المجموعة ٣٠/٨٠ "التجارة: تقارير عن أسواق الخليج الفارسي والفرص التجارية" [و‎‎١‎٣‎٠] (٧١٢/٢٦٠)

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REPORT ON ECONOMIC CONDITIONS IN THE
PERSIAN GULF
October, 1934
I.—GENERAL REVIEW OF TRADE, 1933-34.
This report is intended to give a general view of trade conditions-
in the Persian Gulf. The principal ports are dealt with in separate
sections, but Basra is only included in as far as it affects the trade
of the Gulf as a whole.
Very different trade conditions prevailed on the Arab and Persian
sides of the Gulf. On the Arab side, customs duties ranged from
4 per cent, to 15 per cent, but there were no restrictions on the
quantities of merchandise imported and exported and the statis
tics for the year (1st April, 1933 to 31st March, 1934) show that
the total volume of trade, though still far below the level of five
or six years ago, increased slightly in comparison with that of
the previous year.
On the Persian side, though no statistics have yet been published,}
it is doubtful if there will be an increase owing to the numerous
regulations which remained in force during the year. In addition
to the difficulties of a quota system and the payment of customs
duties and road tax, merchants importing into Persia w T ere faced
with the necessity of procuring certificates of export before they
could obtain certificates of import and when importing certain
classes of goods, including motor cars and accessories, woollens and
leather, of first purchasing foreign exchange from the Govern
ment at unfavourable rates. The monopolies of opium, sugar
and matches contributed still further to their difficulties and
made it impossible for them to carry on normal business, with
the result that money became generally scarce and only goods of
the cheapest quality found a market. On the Arab side money
was also scarce, but for different reasons, of which the most impor
tant was the continued depression in the pearl trade.
This shortage of money and consequent demand for cheapness
with little regard to quality, whilst detrimental to British interests, [
was a tremendous help to Japan in her efforts to establish a strong ^
commercial position in the Gulf. Her goods were almost invariably 1
cheaper than those of her rivals and in addition were brought to
the notice of merchants by Japanese agents who were extremely
active in visiting and carrying on trade propaganda in the various
towns in the Gulf. Furthermore, Japanese traders were willing to
import goods on their own account and dispose of them afterwards
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