Farm Board deal and other special arrangements resulted in a record figure of 1,236,000,000 pounds. The value of cocoa, our second most important import from Brazil, decreased from $13,905,000 to $8,258,- i 000 by reason of the decline in the average unit value from 71⁄2 cents per pound in 1937 to 41⁄2 cents per pound in 1938. The quantity of cocoa imported from Brazil was slightly larger in 1938 than in 1937, but less than the record total of 196,000,000 pounds in 1936.

The major part of the decrease in the value of imports from Brazil was in oil-bearing nuts and seeds and other of those products, imports of which have fluctuated greatly in recent years as a result of the changes in United States crop yields. Notable in this group are babassu nuts and other oil-bearing seeds, vegetable oils, hides and skins, and byproduct feeds of wheat. Imports of these commodities were in some instances negligible and in others only a fraction of the unusual totals in 1937. The United States had recovered by 1938 from the shortage in domestic fat and oil supplies occasioned by drought conditions in 1936.

Imports of manganese, after increasing substantially in 1936 under the impetus of the trade agreement and expanding industrial output in the United States, dropped off in the succeeding years, and in 1938 were only a fourth as large in quantity as in 1936.

Imports of canned beef and of oiticica oil were larger in quantity and in value in 1938 than in 1937. The demand for this oil, which has some of the same properties as tung oil, has been stimulated partly because of the difficulties encountered in bringing tung oil out of China.

Table 12.-Principal Commodities in Trade of the United States With Brazil NOTE. Data for individual export items include only United States products. Import commodities are "general imports" in 1929 and 1932 and "imports for consumption" in 1937 and 1938.

Value (1,000 dollars)

1

Table 12.-Principal Commodities in Trade of the United States With Brazil—Con.

? Figures for 1929 and 1932 have not been adjusted for minor transfers in classifications of later years. 3 Household refrigerators only.

190841-40-4

CHILE

United States trade with Chile in 1938 declined 25 percent in value after having improved steadily from 1933 to 1937. The decline was due entirely to a 40-percent reduction in our purchases from Chile, as United States shipments to that country increased 2.5 percent in value as compared with 1937. United States merchandise exports to Chile amounted to $24,603,000 in 1938, while imports of Chilean merchandise were $28,268,000.

In addition to merchandise imports, the United States received gold from Chile valued at $8,414,000 and silver valued at $696,000, making a total of $37,378,000 for all Chilean products imported into the United States last year. The export of gold by Chile represents, as does that of silver and copper, the output of important domestic extractive industries.

EXPORTS, INCLUDING REEXPORTS

1901-1905 1906-1910 1911-1915 | 1916-1920|1921-1925 1926-1930 1931-1935 | 1936-19401

Figure 10.-Trade of the United States With Chile.

0.0.9141

The decline in imports from Chile during 1938 was due in part to changed industrial conditions in the United States, but the drop in world copper prices and the international restrictions which curtailed the production of that metal in Chile were also important influences. During 1937 industrial demands in the world were such as to lead to greatly increased United States imports of copper (mainly for refining and reexport), and the United States market absorbed increased amounts of nitrate, crude iodine, and iron ore, together with such minor products as beans, wool, and forage feeds. The value of merchandise imports from Chile in 1937 was four-fifths above the value in 1936; and notwithstanding last year's decline, the 1938 total was still above that of 1936. As in United States total imports, midyear of 1938 marked the low point in imports from Chile; thereafter the trade showed improvement.

Although the past year was not an entirely satisfactory one for Chile, its total imports as well as its imports from the United States were sustained through the exchange available as a result of the relatively high ratio of exports to imports in 1937. With the increase in

Chilean imports and the decline in exports in 1938, an acute shortage of sterling and dollar exchange developed during the year.

Among the various products exported by the United States to Chile, machinery and vehicles continued to be the most important group in 1938. Exports in this category amounted to $8,909,000, or 36 percent of the total exports, as against $8,289,000 and 34.5 percent in 1937. Automobiles, radio equipment and apparatus, and construction and conveying machinery were the principal items in this group which were exported in increased value. The mining and quarrying machinery exports were 18 percent smaller in value than in 1937.

In the textile exports there were increases in 1938 in quantity and value of raw cotton, cotton yarns, and osnaburgs. The United States regained a large part of the osnaburg trade lost to Japan in 1937. The osnaburg exports, however, did not reach the high level of the twenties, since Chile is now manufacturing considerable quantities of cotton fabrics. Exports of raw cotton to Chile in 1938 established a new high record of 12,141 bales.

There was also a marked increase in exports of milled rice in 1938. as a result of the shortage in the Chilean crop.

A number of the commodity exports which showed marked increases in 1937 decreased in 1938. These included gas oil and fuel oil, rough Douglas-fir lumber, automobile tires and other rubber manufactures, and various iron and steel products, all of which rank among the leading exports to Chile.

Table 13.-Principal Commodities in Trade of the United States With Chile NOTE. Data for individual export items include only United States products. Import commodities are "general imports" in 1929 and 1932 and "imports for consumption" in 1937 and 1938.

Table 13.-Principal Commodities in Trade of the United States With Chile

1 Figures for 1929 and 1932 have not been adjusted for minor transfers in classifications of later years. Less than 500.

COLOMBIA

The United States has been for many years the principal foreign market for Colombian products. This country took 59 percent of the total exports of Colombia in 1938 and furnished approximately half of Colombia's total imports. The proportion of United States merchandise in Colombia's total imports has risen to one-half from approximately 41 percent in 1936, the year in which the trade agreement between the United States and Colombia became effective. Germany's share in Colombia's imports has also increased during the same period, while the United Kingdom's share has declined and that of Japan has remained small.

The trade agreement, as well as other economic factors which affected the business situation in each country, contributed to the expansion in the trade during 1938. During the first 6 months of 1938 Colombia experienced a business recession attributable largely to the drop in coffee prices which followed Brazil's relaxation of coffee