tant commodities in the trade also showed large relative decreases in quantity and in value.

FRENCH OCEANIA

French Oceania supplies principally chrome ore to the United States— a trade that is directly influenced by changes in domestic industrial activity. Imports of chrome ore from French Oceania dropped off from 28,384 tons valued at $927,000 in 1937 to 15,270 tons valued at $389,000 in 1938. Though the United States imports other products from French Oceania (including vanilla beans, mother-of-pearl, and fertilizer materials), the value of these is smaller in the aggregate than that of chrome. Total imports for consumption amounted to $599,000 in 1938 and $1,250,000 in 1937.

United States exports to French Oceania include petroleum products, machinery, cigarettes, and a wide range of miscellaneous commodities, all of which are relatively small in value. The aggregate of total exports in 1938 was $582,000, as compared with $707,000 in 1937.

WESTERN ASIA

The export trade of the United States with Western Asia (Aden, Arabia, Iraq, Palestine, Syria, Iran, and Turkey) has shown a remarkable growth in the past few years, and the increase of 17 percent over the 1937 trade brought the 1938 total to $35,413,000, the highest figure of record. Programs of industrial expansion being carried out by the governments of the several countries in this area, especially by Iran and Turkey, have called for a type of equipment which the United States is in a position to supply. Exploration and development of the petroleum and mineral resources of the area and the construction of roads, railways, and buildings have been largely responsible for the marked increase that has occurred in exports of United States machinery, electrical apparatus, steel manufactures, and automobiles, as well as for the expansion in other commodities. In both 1937 and 1938, exports of aircraft to Turkey were an important item in the trade.

United States imports from Western Asia, which also increased substantially during the recent recovery years, were larger in value in 1937 than in 1929. In 1938, however, the value of general imports decreased 22 percent from the 1937 value of $37,201,000, to $29,041,000. A somewhat smaller quantity of Turkish tobacco (the principal United States import from Western Asia) was received in 1938 than in 1937, but a large decrease was shown in our imports of carpet wool. A smaller part of the 1938 imports of tobacco than of the 1937 imports remained in warehouses at the end of the year-a fact which explains the increase in the "imports for consumption" figures shown for tobacco in table 48. Imports of other products, including dates (from Iraq), sausage casings, and rugs, were also smaller in 1938 than

in 1937.

A statement on United States trade with Turkey in 1938-issued by the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce in February 1939, showing separately the United States trade with that country-may be obtained from the Bureau or any of its district offices.

190841-40-10

Table 48.-Principal Commodities in Trade of the United States With Western
Asia

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. Turkey in Europe is included with Turkey in Asia in all years shown.

-Pr

Table 48.-Principal Commodities in Trade of the United States With Western Asia-Continued

AFRICA

After a 4-year period of remarkable expansion in both imports and exports, the foreign trade of the United States with Africa declined appreciably in 1938. Exports to Africa dropped off slightly more than one-fifth from the high value of $152,158,000 recorded in 1937, though the 1938 total of $118,350,000 exceeded the value in all preceding years except 1920, 1929, and 1937. Declines were recorded in 1938 mainly for shipments to the countries in the central and southern part of the continent. The decrease in exports to the Union of South Africa was influenced in part by overbuying of certain United States products in the previous year, although low prices of agricultural products and the change in world demand for diamonds (which varies directly with prosperity) tended to reduce purchasing power in the Union. Gold mining, so largely responsible for the growth in the

Union's trade and purchasing power since 1933, again established a new high record of production. In addition to the smaller trade with British South Africa, large decreases were recorded for United States exports to the other British territories, to French Africa, and to Portuguese Africa.

The marked variations in the value of our export trade with several countries in Africa during recent years have been substantially influenced by forces unrelated to normal commercial transactions. This was particularly true of exports to Italian Africa and Ethiopia during military operations in the latter country in 1935 and was also true of exports to the Canary Islands and Spanish Africa after the beginning of the Spanish revolution in 1936.

135

Over four-fifths of all exports to Africa in 1938 were, as usual, finished manufactured products. Machinery, automobiles (including motortrucks and parts for cars), petroleum products, metals and metal manufactures, and textiles and textile manufactures were the five largest items of export, in the order named.

Direct general imports from Africa, which amounted to $54,671,000 in 1938, were two-fifths less than the relatively high total of $92,148,000 in 1937. The decline is accounted for mainly by smaller imports from British West Africa (principally of cocoa) and from Egypt (principally of raw cotton). These two commodities and the following itemsdiamonds (in the rough and industrial grades), hides and skins, chrome ore, sisal and henequen fiber, coffee, and undressed furs, named in the order of their import value-made up nearly three-fifths of the 1938 imports.

The United States statistics of direct imports understate, however, our purchases of African products; since at least two of the most important products of that continent, in point of value-gold and cut diamonds are not imported directly in large degree. Some less important products are also imported indirectly-for example, cashew nuts from Portuguese East Africa, which come mostly via India, where they are sent to be shelled.

Table 49.—Trade With Africa, by Commercial Regions and by Countries