.
3
means dispiriting when one remembers that the result for 1909-10 is by no provision has been made for the gradual reduction year by year of the amount of Persian (and Turkish) opium for which import permits will be issued in China until, after 1916, the importation of such opium will cease, like that of Indian opium, according to a notice issued by the Chinese Imperial Customs in 1907.
China Export.
Let us glance for a moment at the export from Persian ports into China
And for the period 1909-10-
Total value of all exports
>
of dutiable exports..
of opium exported
duties levied on all exports
17
on opium
Kraus. 18,892,152
0,695,246
5,612,600
636,079
571,882
Weight of Opium Exported.
Value of Opium Exported.
Duty paid.
Cwts.
#
£
Total Total Value Exported Value Exported
1909-10. 1908-9.
China Export 1908-9.
China Export 1909-10.
China
848
51,003
5,350
United Kingdom Others ..
733
46,997
4,472
76
4.908
480
Total
1,662
102,908
10,302
26
Bushire
Mohammerah
Bunder Abbas
Kermanshah..
13,060 (Figures not available)
£ 208.612
£
£
£
112.252
126,372
55,634
18,357
87,687
14,085
29,706
10,035
15,429
44,520
(Figures not
10,095 (Greater quan-
available)
tity to Hong
Kong)
213,368
150,492
98.400
Total (not counting Kermanshah)
237,004
It will be seen from the above that in the last year only Mobammerah's China export has seriously fallen off, that port sending 29,7061. to China as against 56,9331. to the United Kingdom, and it is to be presumed that the Chinese customs regulations are sufficiently strict to prevent any great quantity of this United Kingdom export being re-imported from Loudon into China. On the other hand, a slight drop in China export, according to customs returns, does not necessarily mean less profits to Persian traders in that direction, as whilst prices in China take the increase at a rapid rate, the declared value of the opium on leaving Gulf ports remains constant at so much per chest. There can be no doubt that vast profits have been made during the past year and are now being made in Persia in the opium trade with China. The narrower the circles are drawn, which are automatically and within a prescribed time to crush the life out of the opium vice in China, the more readily do consumers pay ever-increasing One particular consigument of sums for the possession of the coveted drug. deteriorated opium had lain since 1904 in Hong Kong, and had been pronounced absolutely unsaleable. In that year 50 dollars per chest was offered; later it was reported to be of so foul an odour that no self-respecting Chinaman would touch it; in 1909 it sold for 900 dollars a-chest. The merebants responsible for the sale wrote on that occasion: "Owing to the restrictions placed on the export of Indian opium, and the considerable decrease in the quantity permissible to be sold in China, opium prices It is anticipated that in view of in general have recently advanced to a great extent. this marked rise, the Chinese, who have been so far keeping aloof from inferior quality of opium, will take it."
Export from Bushire.
Turning to statistics for Bushire alone during the year 1908-9--
'It will be noted that whereas the total value of exports from Bushire has declined in this last year from 408,2977, to 337,2237. only, the export of opium has fallen from 191,2477. to 102,908., and although at present the tremendous prices ruling in Hong Kong make the game worth the candle for individual Persian merchants, commerce as a whole will grievously suffer from the complete prohibition of opium export into China. From the merely moral point of view this is of course admirable, and most philanthropists as well as lovers of Persia would much like to see wheat and cotton cultivated on all land where now the poppy is grown; but having regard to the facilities of all kinds afforded to opium and denied to other crops-such as less labour and larger profits, absence of taxation by governors and of embargoes by the Government--the outlook is, from a strictly commercial standpoint, serious enough.
Prospects for this.
Prices have been ruling very high in London as well as in Hong Kong for some months. In China, 1,600 dollars are being paid per case of 1404 lbs. Local prices in the meantime have remained low; whereas in 1906-7, 1,000 dollars in Hong Kong cotemporised with 400 and 500 tomans (801, and 1001.) in Persia, at present, the Persian (Shiraz) price is only 230 tomans. The Bombay market has also been rising steadily. Very favourable reports have reached England of the new Turkey crops expected in the month of June. In fact, so heavy is the quantity looked for that buyers are keeping themselves away from business in order to work off their stocks in anticipation. Turkish opium guaranteed 11 to 12 per cent. morphia, and offered on a forward basis at 12s., has been unable to find a buyer. Persian opium is still ruling very high in London in sympathy with the demand in Hong Kong, but speculators realise that the position is dangerous in the extreme, and anticipate a sudden reaction which would bring Persian opium down to the level of Turkish. Adulteration of the former with "gunjide," it is satisfactory to note, is becoming less common.
Total value of exports..
51
"
of dutiable exports.
31
33
of opium exported
#F
on opium
duties levied on all exports
Weight of Opium! Value of Opium
Exported.
Exported.
:::::
Krans.
22,268,535
11,382.697
10,430,590
1,359.742
1,805,790
Duty paid.
Cwts.
China
2,300
£ 115,856
£
14,591
(actual rate of
exchange)
United Kingdom..
1,185
58,147
7.487
Others
295
17,244
1,863
Total
3,789
191,247
23,941
i
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