Page 485 - 6 Persian Trade rep BUSHIRE 2_Neat

1J
It would he advantageous if quotations sent to merchants in
Bahrain. Kuwait and Muscat wore furnished in nipoos ip well as in
sterling.
II.—BUSHIRE.
General.-—Bushire, which subsists almost entirely on its entrepot
trade, has lost much of its importance in recent years owing to
tjie increasing tendency for trade to move towards Mohammerah,
Bandar Shahpur and Ahwaz in response to the greater facilities
offered by these ports for landing and transporting cargo to the
interior.
Landing Facilities.—At Bushire the inner anchorage is about
two and a half miles and the outer anchorage about six miles from
the shore. Goods are frequently damaged in the course of unload­
ing from steamer to dhow and from dhow to customs jetty.
Transport.—The motor road to Shiraz, though improved in
places, is still difficult and the low-lying stretch which connects
Bushire with the mainland becomes impassable after heavy rain.
Ivorry transjxjrt has almost completely driven out the old-fashioned
qnimal transport, on the main routes, but the latter is still used
for carrying tins of oil and petrol up country. In 1933 the average
rate per Kharvar of 775 lbs. by direct lorry to Tehran was Rials 331.
Trade.—The position of tlie merchants in Bushire and in the
other Persian |jorts in the Gulf during the last two years lias not
been an enviable one. Of the four staple imports, matches were
a monopoly in tlie hands of the U.S.S.K. : sugar was also a Soviet
Union monopoly until late in 1933, and then, when permission to
import was granted to local merchants, it was only on condition that
they purchased an equivalent amount from Government stocks; tea
and piecegoods were not reserved by monopoly, but the latter have
been excluded from the latest quota figures. The necessity of pur­
chasing import certificates and of paying customs’ dues and road tax
was a. further cause of discouragement to importers, who were often
unable to produce the funds necessary for releasing their goods
from the customs,
Some relief was afforded by the Government's decision towards
the end of 1933 to allow the importation of certain goods previously
classed as prohibited, such as wines and spirits, woollen goods and
perfumery, but import certificates for these could only he obtained
after purchase of certain percentages of foreign exchange at gold
rates from the Government
Gf the exports, by far the most valuable, opium, was a monojxdv
until October, 1932, when the concession was cancelled only to be
replaced by a new one in the spring of 1931. Excessive export
duty, amounting to approximately 100 per cent, of the value, made
it difficult for exporters to find a market for Persian opium and
large stocks accumulated in Pmshire.