'File 5/1 XIV Kuwait Oil Company' [‎40r] (84/570)

Pletisa refer to your letter ;;o.bl84 of the 9th
February, 1937,
2, Taking the iteiris in order: as re erds price of
fish I point out thot the last year and the year before
were particularly cheap years for fish in Kuwait. If you
will enquire as to the price ofilsh 4 and b years ago you
will find that it was more expensive than it is now. The
price just at the moment is decreasing,
b. Coffee, wheat, and flour have all risen in the
..orId market ana I would refer yoi to the Comparative Tables
of Commodity Prices which appear under the heading "Finance
and Commerce" in the .Vee .ly Times, The same rise in prices
is experienced in other Gulf ports* The f;. ct that the
.'orld rise is slightly less than the local rise is I assume
accounted for by the fact th t when there is a demand in the
/orld market the worst place to be from individual consumer’s
point of view is near but not et an individual point of sup ly,
since no one will divert to sell in a small market close
at hand, when they are hurrying their goons away to a rising
-orId market.
4. as regards mutton there hi s been a steady increase
in the price in both Iraq and Kuwait since the buying of
lambskins for Europe begun some years ago, ’ive years ago
in Iraq an average sheep cost Ks.b/- today it costs Rs.ll/-.
Iresumab^y beef would rise in sympathy as the
price of mutton rises. Here in Kuwait it would on top of
this perhaps rise to meet the recent demand by Juropeans.