'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. I. 1918' [‎216] (225/568)

216
COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY
I
exportees signed an agreement only to purchase grain if weighed
after cleansing; the results, however, were disappointing.
Of the two varieties of wheat produced in Mesopotamia, the large-
grained sort, which contains little flour and much gluten, is chiefly-
exported to India and Jeddah, or consumed locally ; the small-grained
wheat is sent to Europe. The grain is not of first-class quality. It is
a hard, red wheat, and is used mainly for mixing with other varieties.
The quality of the barley grown in Mesopotamia is better than that
of the wheat, and there has always been a good market for it; it is
largely exported for mixing with malting barley ; the sample produced
in the Hilla region, known as araff, is better than that of the Amara
district, and it has been said that there seems to be no reason why
arag barley should not compete with that of the Black Sea or River
Plate.
The wheat was exported to the United Kingdom, Germany, India,
Turkey, and the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ports ; barley was sent to the United
Kingdom, Germany, India, and Turkey.
The amount of wheat exported from Basra (including the Baghdad
export) has varied from 30,186 tons in 1908, valued at £241,093,
to 1,330 tons in 1909, valued at £11,531; in 1912 it amounted to
28,044 tons, valued at <£243,054. The corresponding export of barley
in the same years was in 1908 52,996 tons, valued at £370,977; in
1909, 11,038 tons, valued at £82,788 ; and in 1912, 117,999 tons,
valued at £1,118,490. In 1913 owing to the failure of the grain
harvest of the preceding year there was practically no wheat or barley
exported.
The general trend of prices of both wheat and barley on the
Baghdad and Basra markets has been in an upward direction, partly
owing to the rise in world prices, and partly owing to local conditions
such as German competition in the local grain markets; grain was
first exported by a German firm in 1906, and by 1910 and 1911 large
consignments were being bought at a high price by German mer
chants.
A considerable amount of wheat was sent from Mosul to the
Baghdad market, whence it was exported through Basra to Europe
this was valued in 1910 at £200,000.
From Diarbekr surplus wheat was sent to Mosul and Baghdad,
and to other provinces of the Turkish Empire; this export was
uncertain, and dependent upon local conditions; the value of the
export amounted in some years to £30,000.
Wheat is the principal grain export of Arabistan, barley was
exported for the first time in 1908; this trade has been liable to
even greater fluctuations than that of Basra. A good crop of wheat