HUNGARY Because a substantial part of the United States trade with Hungary moves as transshipments and is accredited to bordering countries, official statistics of direct shipments greatly understate the value of United States merchandise which is received in that country. United States statistics (indicated in table 18) record direct exports in 1937 of only $693,000 and in 1938 of $2,731,000. Conversion of Hungarian figures to United States dollars indicates that imports from the United States totaled $6,658,000 in 1937 and $6,282,000 in 1938. Raw cotton constituted 62 percent of the total imports of Hungary from the United States in 1938. Other leading items included nonferrous metals, mineral oil, and machinery. United States imports from Hungary consist principally of agricultural products and jute burlaps. Chiefly because of smaller purchases of barley malt and burlaps, the value of imports (for consumption) from Hungary declined from a total value of $5,254,000 in 1937 to $3,665,000 in 1938. The principal commodity imports, in the order of their importance in 1938, included the following: Hams, shoulders, and other cured pork, 3,026,000 pounds valued at $780,000 (2,585,000 pounds, $749,000 in 1937); clover seed, 6,408,000 pounds at $483,000 (5,159,000 pounds, $480,000 in 1937); ground paprika, 3,426,000 pounds at $458,000 (2,700,000 pounds, $317,000 in 1937); barley malt, 13,317,000 pounds at $395,000 (38,995,000 pounds, $1,299,000 in 1937); crude feathers, 468,000 pounds at $386,000 (529,000 pounds, $487,000 in 1937); vetch seed, 5,326,000 pounds at $183,000 (4,774,000 pounds, $176,000 in 1937); and jute burlaps, 1,247,000 pounds at $79,000 (6,595,000 pounds, $608,000 in 1937). IRELAND Purchases of United States grain by Ireland in 1938 were approximately $15,000,000 greater than in 1937. Mainly because of the increase in the grain shipments, total exports to Ireland increased by more than 100 percent from $12,152,000 in 1937 to $27,259,000 in 1938. Exports of several other principal commodities-unmanufactured tobacco, fruits, and oil cake and oil-cake meal-were somewhat larger than in the preceding year. In 1938 only a few of the principal exports to Ireland, particularly hops, gasoline, and automobiles, were smaller than in the preceding year. United States imports from Ireland, which are much smaller in value than exports, consist also largely of agricultural products and partly of alcoholic spirits. Imports of all the principal commodities— bacon, whisky, malt liquors, wool and woolen fabrics-were smaller in 1938 than in 1937, and, as a consequence, the value of total imports for consumption declined from $1,708,000 in 1937 to $1,022,000 in 1938. Table 24.-Principal Commodities in Trade of the United States With Ireland 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. 1 Less than 500. Electrical machinery and apparatus. Industrial machinery. Tractors and parts.. Automobiles, parts, and accessories. Motor trucks and busses, new 2 number. Automobiles, passenger, new 2. Automobile parts, except engines. Parts for assembly Chemicals and related products 2. General imports..... Imports for consumption.. Whisky and other spirits and compounds Carpet wool and other wools not finer than Agricultural machinery and implements.. 1,000 lb.. 20 640 172 110 32 4,050 2,978 2, 627 2, 441 161 66 74 51 39 234 2,032 393 330 18 23 476 335 84 2 Figures for 1929 and 1932 have not been adjusted for minor transfers in classifications of later years. 3 Not shown separately. ITALY The value of both the import and the export trade of the United States with Italy in 1938 was smaller than that in 1937. The import decline represented a reversion to more normal levels after an exceptionally heavy movement (as compared with other recent years) in 1937, while the export decline was influenced by special factors. The drop in import values was fairly well distributed throughout the list of commodities, and there are evidences that in many instances lower unit prices accounted for a fairly large share of the losses in value. Of the principal items, only raw silk, rayon filament, edible olive oil, and canned tomatoes made appreciable gains. The rise in imports of raw silk was apparently influenced by the sharp reduction in Italian export prices for the commodity, and that in edible olive oil by the greater supply available in Italy. The concurrent practical elimination of imports of sulphurated olive oil was probably the result of the Italian effort to reduce imports of industrial oils by utilizing fully all possible domestic sources. Edible olive oil in 1938 was the largest single item of import from Italy, a position usually occupied by cheese, imports of which declined slightly in 1938. In rayon fibers, Italy supplied a larger share of our increased imports in 1938. United States export trade with Italy in 1938 presents several more noteworthy features than import trade, owing largely to developments in Italian commercial policy. The campaign for autarchy (self-sufficiency) which took final form in 1937 was intensified in its operation during 1938. It aims primarily at freeing Italy so far as possible from dependence on foreign sources of supply; however, the insufficiency of raw materials, despite the tapping of all available sources and the use of substitutes wherever possible, keeps the quantity of raw-material imports relatively high. At the present stage of 10 DD 9150 1901-1905 1906-1910 |1911–1915 | 1916-1920 1921-1925 1926–1930|1931-1935 1936-1940 the self-sufficiency movement, importations of certain types of equipment for implementing the movement are also maintained at a fairly high level. All other classes of imports are rigidly curtailed through the application of the import control under the quota system. The effect of this situation on imports from the United States is readily discernible in the 1938 trade returns. Not only did United States exports to Italy decline as compared with 1937, but the concentration of the trade on a few basic commodities was likewise intensified. About two-thirds of the total value of exports to Italy in 1938, the same proportion as in 1937, was provided by four commoditiescotton, crude petroleum, iron and steel scrap, and copper bars and ingots-in spite of large price declines in all four commodities. The influence of the self-sufficiency program in Italy accounts in part for the decline in the cotton trade in 1938. In the domestic market, rayon and other textiles from artificial fibers are being used increasingly as a substitute for, or in combination with, cotton; and in spite of the decline in our total cotton shipments to Italy in 1938, the share of the United States in total Italian cotton imports increased slightly. The rise in exports of crude petroleum to Italy is also attributable to the self-sufficiency program; as it is impossible for Italy to do without י imported petroleum owing to the lack of local production, large refineries and storage tanks have been built in the past two years to make it possible to perform the refining operations in Italy. It is to be expected that the importation of crude oil rather than refined products will be extended in future years. United States trade with Italy in 1938 was conducted under a modus vivendi signed December 16, 1937, which on the Italian side guarantees to the United States in principle a fair share in imports of articles "of material importance," this share being based on the percentage of United States participation in total Italian imports of such commodities in a previous representative period (in practice, the year 1934 was used as a basis). Under the quota system total imports of each commodity were (based on estimated requirements for the year) set in advance, and to the United States under the modus vivendi was allotted the same percentage of the total as in 1934. As the quota for all countries was in most instances considerably reduced as compared with 1934, imports from the United States suffered proportionately. In practice, the working of the modus vivendi was impaired by a delay in the establishment of the 1938 quotas for the United States, but the situation in this respect should be improved in 1939. In some 18 instances the United States quotas were short of the 1934 percentages; but, on the other hand, "long" quotas were granted for a few basic commodities. Items in which the Italian importation from the United States had a value of less than $25,000 were not considered "of material importance," and no quotas were granted for most of these items. Several minor commodities could not be exported from the United States to Italy in 1938. Under these circumstances it was to be expected that our exports to Italy should be confined largely to a small number of commodities of relatively large aggregate value, and this expectation is borne out by the statistics in table 25. Table 25.-Principal Commodities in Trade of the United States With Italy 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. |