Table 25.-Principal Commodities in Trade of the United States With Italy-Con. 332 347 1,000 lb.. 13, 240 1,000 lb. 17, 638 do... number. 99 649 1,000 lb. tons 398 .1,000 lb.. 130 953 tional purposes 839 262 142 Filaments not exceeding 30 inches..1,000 lb.. Furniture of wood.. Cork, wood, bark waste, and shavings Marble, onyx, breccia, and other building monumental stone and manufactures... Alabaster and jet, wholly or in part manufactured in vases and other articles 2 Earthen crockery and stoneware Talc, steatite, French chalk, and manufac tures, except toilet goods. Quicksilver or mercury. Passenger cars or chassis 2 Nitrogenous fertilizer materials. Accordions and concertinas 2 Original paintings, statuary, etc. Statuary,regalia, etc., for religious and educa Works of art produced before 1830. All other.. 1 Less than 500. 3,610 1,716 1,454 1,268 18, 549 4,867 6,594 5,652 Figures for 1929 and 1932 have not been adjusted for minor transfers in classifications of later years. NETHERLANDS The year 1938 witnessed somewhat lower economic activity in the Netherlands than in the preceding year, but unusually large shipments of food products caused a rise in United States exports to this market. The 1938 value of exports to the Netherlands of $96,732,000 was the largest sum recorded since 1930 and represented the highest percentage of our total exports (3.1 percent) since 1924. The increased shipments of foodstuffs more than balanced the reduced shipments of raw materials and finished goods. While the detailed list of food shipments shows declines in some products, there were marked increases in exports of corn, wheat, raisins, apples, and barley, in the order named. The increase in these five items was $14,575,000, the largest portion of which consisted of an increase of $8,774,000 in corn exports. The large increase in corn shipments is attributable to the unusual situation in the world corn trade last year because of short crops in Argentina. Total food exports in 1938 were valued at $36,292,000, as compared with $21,416,000 in 1937. Aside from food products, United States leading exports to the Netherlands in 1938 were metals and metal manufactures, mineral oils, automobiles, raw cotton, and aircraft. Exports of metal products, mainly of steel and copper, which had trebled in value in 1937, increased nearly one-tenth more in 1938 to $13,531,000. Exports of petroleum and petroleum products valued at approximately $13,000,000 were about one-fifth lower than in 1937, but considerably higher than in 1936. Aircraft exports have advanced steadily in recent years and were valued at $3,279,000 in 1938. Automobile exports at $5,104,000 were below 1937 and above 1936. In contrast with the relatively high figures for these items, raw-cotton exports at $4,386,000 had not been so low in value since 1918. These five items, together with the foods, comprised nearly four-fifths of total exports to the Netherlands in 1938. The remaining one-fifth of the trade included such important exports as leaf tobacco and lumber and a wide range of machinery, textile manufactures, chemicals, and other products. Imports from the Netherlands decreased approximately two-fifths from the comparatively high total of 1937 to $31,448,000 in 1938. Whereas the trade in 1937 was influenced by the relatively high rate of domestic business activity and the exceptional demand for imported farm products that prevailed in the early part of that year, the 1938 results reflect the less favorable market conditions and reduced needs for agricultural products from abroad. The figures of United States and Netherlands trade in this report are to be considered in the light of the fact that the Netherlands is an entrepôt not only for German and central European goods, but also for goods from the Netherlands Indies. The United States import statistics include considerable quantities of colonial products reshipped at Netherlands ports, which are declared upon entry as of Netherlands origin, and until recently they included rough diamonds, which originate in South Africa. For these reasons, United States statistics consistently overstate the trade. A similar situation also applies in statistics of United States exports to the Netherlands, but to a smaller extent than for imports. Statistics of the Netherlands for 1938, while showing smaller values than those reported by the United States, recorded a moderate percentage increase for receipts of United States merchandise and a large decrease in the value of products of the Netherlands shipped to the United States. Imports of butter, hams and shoulders, vegetable oils, and rice decreased by large percentages in 1938. Edible vegetable oil, which rose from approximately 48,000,000 pounds in 1936 to 77,000,000 pounds in 1937, decreased to 23,000,000 pounds; imports of inedible oil fell off from 43,000,000 pounds to 4,000,000 pounds. Imports of rice, including flour, decreased from 89,000,000 in 1937 to 23,000,000 pounds in 1938. Imports of diamonds from the Netherlands also show a marked drop from 1937 to 1938. In the early part of last year the demand for jewel stones in the United States was slack; moreover, purchases of uncut stones and industrial diamonds were not largely credited to the cutting centers of Europe as in former years. Consequently, the sta tistics for the diamond imports in table 26 show a value of $2,904,000 in 1938, compared with a value of nearly $9,400,000 in 1937. Other leading commodities imported from the Netherlands in 1938 included leaf tobacco, tulip bulbs, tin, ammonium sulphate, and leather, in the order named. The values of these products ranged from slightly over a million dollars to approximately $2,900,000. While there was some reduction in the quantity of many products imported into the United States from the Netherlands in 1938, the declines were generally less marked than in diamonds and the food products. Omitting diamonds and foods, imports of other products from the Netherlands declined approximately one-fourth from 1937 to 1938. A wide variety of products that range in value from a few hundred thousand dollars to less than a million dollars annually represent a large proportion of our imports from the Netherlands. Imports from the Netherlands in 1938 were 1.6 percent of our total imports. On the basis of the Netherlands trade statistics, the participation of the United States is relatively much larger than participation of the Netherlands in our trade. Imports into the Netherlands from the United States in 1938 represented 10.8 percent of their total imports, and their exports to the United States were 3.5 percent of their total exports to all countries. As a source of imports into the Netherlands, the United States stands third, following the neighbor countries Germany and Belgium; as a destination, the United States is the sixth most important customer. Table 26.-Principal Commodities in Trade of the United States With the Netherlands 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. 936 mports Table 26.-Principal Commodities in Trade of the United States With the Table 26.-Principal Commodities in Trade of the United States With the 1 Less than 500. Not shown separately. Figures for 1929 and 1932 have not been adjusted for minor transfers in classifications of later years, NORTHERN COUNTRIES That part of Europe known as the "Northern Countries" (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland) has taken a larger proportion of United States exports in recent years than in the late 1920's. the percentage of the total purchased by Europe as a unit has declined, the four countries Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Fin Whereas |