Page 115 - 5 Persian Trade rep BUSHIRE I_Neat

ItUSIUHR.^ 15

CnjsUd find soft sugar.— Like loaf sugar, crystal 6\igar also
showed a heavy falling-ofi from previous years :—
Cwta.
1905 G7.180
19 JO-07 ... C9,5G6
1907-03 ... 39,504

But, unlike, loaf sugar, there was a brisk demand at certain
seasons, more especially during the summer months July, August
and S- ptember, when monsoons and sweating interfere with its
pass: ge by steamer from Europe. Should the stock in hand be
smali in those months, most sugars will fetch a price here. This
gave an opj>ortunity for the profitable sale of some 1,500 bags of
Mauritius sugar winch has not been noticed on the market for a
year or two. Save this, almost all the 23,894 cwta. set down as
coming from the United Kingdom and a great deal of the 6,10-1 cwts.
from India arc an Austrian brand transhipped via London or
Bombay from a depot in Hamburg. The wholesale prices of
this c.i.f. Busliirc in double bags has ranged from 13s. Ad. in March,
1907, to 14s. Ad. in September and 15s. Gd. in March, 1908, and
retail prices per man of 7J lbs. generally run in Bushirc from
2 *65 brans (Is. Old.), when the mark-1 is well-stocked, to 3 *20 krans
(say Is. 2J.) when the market is empty. The customs duty is
2 shshis per Tabriz man of G\ lbs., or U*4Sd., which works out at
about 8*27 /. per cwt.
Attempts have been made to introduce brands of German
crystals and one shipment of Russian crystals was recorded at the
end of the year.
Tea.—The total import which passed the customs., showed a
large inerrese on previous years, viz., 16,656 cwts. as tgainst
"9,684 cwts. in 1906-07. Of this 8G6 cwts. of white and 14,301 cwts.
of other Vas are down as coming from India. There was un­
doubt dlv a shortage of import in 1906-07, but the amount
impo* t d in 1907-08 has been more than the market could hold in
the pn Si nt disturbed condition of the country, owing also to this
the central provinces of Kashan and Teheran have not taken up
the qurntity which they usually consume.and this has increase!
the acu-midstion with the result that prices by March, 1908, had
fallen very low.
Snu gging is having a most depressing effect on the tea trade,
and tht :o is no stronger evidence of the harm that is being done
to lr>rv fu'c tea importers th; n the figures of the amounts cxpoifc d
to th«* Pvrsian coasts of Dashti, T: r.gisti n and Arabists: n from the
principal (practically non-tea drinking) Arab ports of the Gulf,
which have not passed the Persian customs in 1907-08 :—
From— Cwts.
Bahrain... • •• 1,500
Koweit _ 44*
Sharyah^. 16C®
Debai _ • •• 242
About.