LATIN AMERICA From the depression low point in 1932, United States exports to Latin American countries showed a relatively marked growth to 1937, in which year they represented 17.3 percent of our total export trade. When exports to Curacao and the other European colonies are included in the total for the area, the figure for 1937 is 19 percent, the largest proportion in recent years. A marked growth was also shown during the 1920's, but in the peak year of that period the goods sent to Latin America did not comprise so large a proportion of total United States exports as in 1937, although absolute values were higher. With the development of trade recession late in 1937 and 1938 and the decline in world prices, United States sales in Latin America, as in other areas, decreased considerably; they were, nevertheless, 18.2 percent of total United States exports in 1938, a proportion that has been exceeded only in 1920, 1929, and 1937. The total exports to Latin America aggregated $564,137,000 in 1938, as compared with $639,422,000 in 1937 and $972,900,000 in 1929. Although many of the countries of Latin America experienced a period of declining prosperity during 1938, the imports of the area as a whole were well sustained. Exploration of new oil fields and expansion in petroleum production led to a high level of business activity and increased imports in Venezuela during 1938. In several other countries, the high prices of gold and silver influenced the production of those metals and indirectly the volume of business and of import trade. Although prices of the principal agricultural products of Latin America were lower in 1938 than in 1937 and although exchange controls operated in some countries against the purchase of United States goods, United States exports to Central and South America continued in large volume throughout 1938. Certain developments in Mexico and Cuba, discussed elsewhere in this bulletin, caused a substantial reduction in United States exports to those countries. The United States has been for many years the principal purchaser of Latin American products; moreover, our imports of these goods have consistently been larger in value over a long period of years than our exports to that region. The annual average import surplus in trade of the United States with Latin American countries during the 10 years from 1928 through 1937 amounted to more than $100,000,000. For various reasons, however, the value of imports of Latin American products dropped 31 percent in 1938 (as compared with 1937) to a total of $485,335,000, or to $78,800,000 less than the value of United States exports to the area. If, however, the trade in gold and silver, which represents the output of an important industry in a number of the Latin American countries, is included with the merchandise figures, imports were larger in value than exports, as in other recent years, but by a much reduced figure. The decline in the import total in 1938 was influenced mainly by the decrease in prices of tropical foodstuffs and copper as compared with 1937 and by the marked reduction which occurred in imports of corn, hides, and wool from Argentina and of oil-bearing seeds and vegetable oils from Brazil. Because of the marked fluctuation in business activity in the United States and the marked changes which have occurred in domestic crop yields, import trade in these latter agricultural products has experi enced wide variations in recent years. Latin America has furnished over the last 40 years about a fourth of the total imports of the United States. During the World War period, when prices were higher, the percentage was considerably above one-fourth, while in recent years it has been somewhat lower. In 1938, Latin American products were 24.8 percent of our total imports, whereas they were 22.9 percent of the total in 1937. 1901-1905 1906-1910 1911-1915 1916-1920 1921-1925 1926-1930 1931-1935 1936-1940 In table 6 are shown the principal United States commodities which are exported to the 20 Latin American Republics. Among the items listed by groups in the table, machinery and vehicles comprise more than one-half the total exports to the 10 South American Republics and approximately two-fifths of total exports to the 20 Latin American countries. Machinery and automobiles make up a smaller proportion of exports to the 10 countries in Southern North America than to the countries in South America; foodstuffs and articles of clothing are a substantial portion of the trade with that area. Table 7 shows the principal imports into the United States from Latin America. Coffee represented 45 percent of the total imports from South American Republics in 1938, while copper, petroleum, nitrates, hides and skins, wool, and canned beef, taken together, comprised 27 percent of the total. Sugar, the most important import into the United States from Latin North America, accounted for slightly more than two-fifths of the value of total imports from that area, while bananas, coffee, tobacco, sisal, and copper comprised about 33 percent of the total. e mark Tool fr n Bra e Unit Table 4.-Trade With Latin America, by Commercial Regions and by Countries [Millions of dollars] 1 Includes trade with 20 Latin American Republics, the European colonies, and the Canal Zone, but does not include the shipments to and from Puerto Rico shown separately at bottom of table. Trade with Virgin Islands is included in 1929 and 1932; reported as a noncontiguous territory in recent years. (See pages 146 and 147.) Less than $50,000. Table 5.- -Percentage Distribution and Changes in Trade With Principal Latin American Countries 1 For purposes of comparison, the Virgin Islands are excluded in this table for all years shown. Less than one-tenth of 1 percent. 3 Over 1,000 percent increase. Table 6.-United States Exports to the Latin American Republics (Including the Canal Zone) by Commodity Groups and by Principal Commodities [Thousands of dollars] 1.5 7.6 1.2 7.4-55.7 +144. 3-12.6 6.2 .2 .2-82.1 +57.3 1.4 9 1.4-55.9+-589. 5 (2) (2) 23 incipal La Table 6.-United States Exports to the Latin American Republics (Including the Table 7.-Imports Into the United States From the Latin American Republics (Including the Canal Zone) by Commodity Groups and by Principal Commodities |