'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. I. 1918' [‎214] (223/568)

214
COMMEECE AND INDUSTRY
Principal Expoets
Particulars of the export trade of Mesopotamia must necessarily
be confined almost entirely to the period before the war. A certain
amount of information on trade matters is, however, available for the
year 1916 ; from particulars of exports from Basra in that year, it
appears that the date trade of the Shatt el-Arab has not been
seriously affected (see below, p. 215). Very little grain was exported
from the country. There was an export of wool, mostly to London,
of 16,343 bales, which is less than half the amount exported before
the war, and of hides and skins, horses, &c., to Bombay in about the
same proportion.
Dates. —The Turkish side of the Shatt el-Arab is one of the
principal date-producing areas of the world, and large quantities
of dates are exported annually from Basra. The trade, however, is
a highly speculative one. Prices, which are in the first instance fixed
by arrangement between growers and buyers, rise and fall with great
rapidity, depending largely on the demands of European and American
markets ; in some instances there has been keen competition from
America for the crop even before the dates were ripe ; forward sales
have in many cases resulted in heavy loss, the purchasing firms being
left with large quantities of dates upon their hands in London and
Bombay, which were unsaleable except at considerable loss. The
output of dates is liable to be seriously affected by local conditions:
climatic changes are at times responsible for deterioration in the
crop; labour for picking may be specially plentiful in years when
the grain crop is a failure, or at other times may be almost unob
tainable, as in 1911, when, owing to the outbreak of cholera, the
outside supply failed. Cost of freight has risen considerably in
recent years. Dates for export are mostly of three kinds, viz.
(1) Jiallawi, (2) Madrawi, (3) sair, and are classified as ' wet'
dates as against the dry dates which are not exported to Europe
and America; all three kinds are packed in cases, and are sent
to the United Kingdom, to America, India, and Australia, also
to Austria, Russia, the Levant A geographical area corresponding to the region around the eastern Mediterranean Sea. , and other destinations; the dates
which are packed in baskets and sent to India, Turkey, the Levant A geographical area corresponding to the region around the eastern Mediterranean Sea. ,
and Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ports, and to the United Kingdom are probably
for the most part sairs. Less important varieties of dates are
which are exported in bags to Karachi and Egypt, and grown
for the most part round Baghdad and in the neighbourhood of Ker-
bela, which are packed in baskets and skins for Bombay, Singapore,
Egypt, and the Levant A geographical area corresponding to the region around the eastern Mediterranean Sea. . There has been no export trade in dates
to China up to now; it has been suggested, however, that, if dates