in return for the extension of the benefits of United States tradeagreement concessions (given to countries except Cuba) to their products. Under the several extensions of the commercial agrecment since 1935, exports to the Soviet Union have shown a marked increase. Table 34.-Principal Commodities in Trade of the United States with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in Europe and in Asia 1 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 34.—Principal Commodities in Trade of the United States With the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in Europe and in Asia—Continued 1 The relatively small trade with the Republics in Asia is included in the item “All other" in 1929 and 1932. 1 Less than 500. Figures for 1929 and 1932 have not been adjusted for minor transfers in classifications of later years. Not shown separately. The increase in United States exports during 1938 was due to the intensification of the industrialization process now in progress in the U. S. S. R. and to a strengthening of the Soviet defense indus tries. Approximately one-half of the exports consisted of metal working machinery for use in Government-owned foundries and manufacturing plants. These machinery exports aggregated $35,163,000, as compared with $6,954,000 in 1937 and with $15,383,000 in 1936. Industrial furnaces, air compressors, aluminum ingots and plates, and aircraft were other principal items exported in increased amounts to the Soviet Union in 1938. While exports of the above-mentioned products increased greatly and while the trade in 1938 consisted of finished manufactures and semimanufactures to a greater extent even than in 1937, there were decided decreases in exports of other commodities. These shifts reflect the purposive character of Soviet purchases in foreign countries. Oil-well and refinery machinery, radio apparatus, car wheels and axles, iron and steel plates, and copper, which were relatively large in 1937, were only fractionally as large in 1938. Exports of crude materials, mainly cotton, have been negligible since 1935, for the Soviet industry has been relying on its own cotton crops in recent years. As in previous years, imports from the U. S. S. R. in 1938 consisted principally of crude materials and semimanufactures. The principal items of import were undressed furs, manganese ore, and anthracite, in the order given. Imports of undressed furs in 1938 were about as large in value as in 1937, those of anthracite were down, principally in quantity, and those of manganese were reduced in both quantity and value. These three items comprised nearly two-thirds of the total import trade. In the declines in a number of the minor items which constituted the remaining one-third of the 1938 import total, a modification of Soviet foreign-trade policy is reflected. The drop in imports as compared with 1937 was due not alone to the recession in United States business activity, but also to a reduction in exports of Soviet products which were needed for Soviet consumption or for war reserves. UNITED KINGDOM The United Kingdom continued in 1938 as the leading market for United States exports. Although maximum and minimum values of shipments to the United Kingdom vary in times of prosperity and depression, the British share of total exports from the United States has ranged from 16 to 19 percent during the period since 1926. Normally the United Kingdom stands third, next to Canada and Japan, as a source of imports into the United States and furnishes from 6 to 8 percent of our total imports. The outstanding feature of the exchange of goods between the United States and the United Kingdom is its distribution over a very wide list of commodities, with exceptional emphasis on only a few individual commodities, of which cotton and tobacco are usually the most important. These two commodities represented 29 percent of the total United States exports to the United Kingdom in 1938, but of the remaining seven-tenths, as listed in table 35 only 7 of the more than 75 specifically mentioned items of export to the United Kingdom amounted to more than 2 percent of the total. These seven were corn, wheat, lard, lumber, gasoline, lubricating oil, and metalworking machinery. In 1938 the value of United States exports to the United Kingdom was lower than in the preceding year by 3 percent. The large British demand for United States metals and metalworking machinery in 1937 tapered off somewhat in 1938, and exports of cotton were sharply reduced in the latter part of the year. Food products, especially wheat, corn, oranges, apples, pears, lard, and meats, and numerous other commodities, including tobacco and motor fuel, were exported in greatly increased quantities to the United Kingdom in 1938 as compared with 1937. Taken as a group, foodstuffs comprised 28 percent of the total exports in 1938, a much larger proportion than in the immediately preceding years. Figure 25.-Trade of the United States With the United Kingdom. In United States imports from the United Kingdom one item— whisky among the items specifically mentioned in table 35 represented as much as 27 percent of the total and six items represented as much as 2 to 6 percent. These six included linen fabrics, woolens, rayon filaments, tin, creosote oil, and works of art. A relatively large number of the import items fall in the category of manufactured goods; textiles and textile manufactures, as a group, represented over one-fifth of the import total in 1938, and other finished and semifinished manufactures were nearly two-fifths of the total. After rising in 1937 to the highest figure since 1930, United States imports from the United Kingdom decreased in value in 1938. The United States purchased much smaller amounts of textile manufactures, furs, leather, vegetable oils, tea, diamonds, tin, platinum, works of art, and various other products from the United Kingdom, with the result that the value of total imports for consumption was nearly 41 percent smaller in 1938 than in 1937. Rayon filament, anthracite, and creosote oil were numbered among the few imports that showed an increase in 1938, while imports of whisky were nearly as large in 1938 as in 1937. Table 35.-Principal Commodities in Trade of the United States With the United Kingdom 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. Commodity Quantity 1929 1932 1937 1938 Value (1,000 dollars) 1929 1932 1937 1938 do 51,956 Canned meats. 134 314 Sausage casings. 2,910 3,408 5, 242 Lard, including neutral. 2,495 2,280 do.. Salmon, canned. .do. 8,795 11,265 29, 332 28, 938 Leather 5, 597 5,893 10, 365 2,809 2, 233 1,750 1,000 sq. ft 12, 595 Boots, shoes, and slippers. Furs, undressed. 1,000 prs.. thousands.. 410 7,973 Fox.. 7,993 11, 310 82 5, 620 Skunk and civet cat. 707 3,083 898 1,129 9,715 8,099 835 807 1,960 2,943 2,846 1.468 2,398 808 Barley, grain. 3,318 1,712 1.567 680 Corn. 9, 237 do.. 1,907 5,828 4.441 6,387 Wheat, grain. 376 20,030 5, 460 Wheat flour 1,000 bbl.. 6,939 23, 904 Fruits and preparations.. 523 912 Grapefruit 52, 223 35, 977 31,906 43, 368 2, 330 Oranges. .do.. 1, 457 86 581 Lemons .do.. Apples, fresh. Grapes.. 1,000 lb.. 10, 831 21, 172 Pears, fresh. 4,676 5, 560 1.219 1,695 Dried and evaporated fruits. 59, 479 2, 335 3,434 do Raisins. 113, 222 4,882 6,681 5,767 do 40, 538 51, 203 Prunes. do Canned fruits. 32, 473 40, 615 38, 279 do.. 218. 344 234, 422 43, 298 Grapefruit 216, 339 280, 306 21,823 .do. (2) 6, 627 Peaches .do. 2,496 3,672 2,738 2,826 1,841 2,167 2,127 15, 350 16, 479 19.452 384 1,679 2,390 Apricots. 5.926 .do. 4, 401 3,756 4,863 Pears 1,336 1,767 .do 48. 511 Fruits for salad. 69, 450 57, 442 ..do 4,508 4. 101 4,794 Sugar, refined. 32, 469 do 3, 153 3,625 3,650 Rosin... 74, 659 1,000 bbl. 1,387 1, 184 Gum spirits of turpentine. .1.000 gal. Tobacco, unmanufactured. 1,000 lb 6,893 4, 586 5,932 4,433 1,253 1,842 3, 227 1,847 2,050 1,114 31,912 87.416 111,317 592 808 159, 715 55, 819 90, 346 41, 150 4, 159 3, 396 79, 886 5,828 648 554 2,936 562 484 3, 254 342 1,699 795 2,170 2,756 1,651 1,060 805 (2) Sawmill products. Timber, sawed.. 76, 375 30, 005 33, 315 21, 569 2,936 335, 347 206, 648 22, 028 43, 026 25, 919 2,487 738 1,322 8, 804 18, 793 11, 274 865 1,836 1,270 7,938 16,958 10,004 1,000 2,125 1,175 84, 636 7,006 3, 478 9, 284 3, 136 thousands. 4, 570 3,094 6, 137 3,985 1,614, Petroleum and products. 20 1 100. 805 37, 610 39, 644 46, 450 8, 539 67, 393 1,555 8,734 4, 735 121 1,948 2,493 19, 867 11, 539 18, 754 4,791 2,845 2,841 3,728 9, 414 15, 320 13, 288 1,515 3,025 392 1,824 587 30, 548 12,871 3 6,116 11 15,808 6,112 1, 159 3,533 2,846 4,351 14, 328 296 6,301 564 888 1, 167 6, 512 1,752 1,098 1,615 813 3 2,610 1,291 287 |