Page 480 - 6 Persian Trade rep BUSHIRE 2_Neat

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lo iiicTchants sis and when op|>oriunit\ oll'ered. The progress
in the sain of .Japanese floods will he examined in more detail
in the seeiions dealing with the various markets, hut, in general,
it mav In* said that her piece goods, china ware, glassware, and
haberdashery predominated throughout the dull'; that her cement
competed with cements from the United Kingdom, Italy,
Yugoslavia and the Baltic States, hut was not always successful
on account of its inferior (piality ; that her matches shared the
market on the Aral) side with those of Sweden and the U.S.S
and were cheaper than either ; that considerable quantities of rite
brought by Japanese steamers from jJiapan, were sold at low
prices in Bahrain and Kuwait and adversely afTeeted the sales of
Indian rie.c in these markets.
No less remarkable than the advance of Japanese* trade was
the decline of Soviet Union trade due, in part, to the fact that
Soviet Union goods, like those of other nations, were to a largo
extent, submerged by the deluge of Japanese goods which descended
upon the markets on both sides of the Gulf from 103*2 onwards, and,
in part, to the economic disputes which took place between the
U.S.S.K. and Persia during the. last two years. Following the
ratification of a commercial treaty between the two countries in
October. 1031. Soviet Union trading concerns were re-organized
and centralized, hanks were established at Mohammerah and
Bushire and, for a time, Soviet Union goods, aided by the. mono­
polies which had been granted lo them for the import of sugar
and matches, continued to pour into the Persian ports.
Towards the end of 103*2, complaints were made against Soviet
Union trading methods and the alleged excess of Soviet Union
imports over exports, which culminated in the spring of 1033 in an
almost complete cessation of trade between the two countries.
Although some measures of agreement have since been arrived at,
up to the time of writing no real resumption of trade in the Gulf was
apparent.
The United Kingdom and India both lost ground heavily in the
piece goods market, but the former was able to hold its own in
the sale of machinery, where some appreciation of quality as
opposed to considerations merely of original cost was still in evi­
dence. The high quality of British cement was also appreciated,
but competition in this market was extremely keen and orders
were well divided amongst a number of nations.
British motor cars have not so far been able to compete sueeess-
lully with the well established American makes, This is to he
regretted in view of the large number of cars which are imported
annually through Basra and the Persian ports. If however.
United Kingdom manufacturers wish to obtain a share of this
market, they must introduce, ears which will compare favour­
ably in price with American ears of tin same horse power