British Mandate: A Survey of Palestine: Volume I - Page 467

CHAPTER XIII.

72. The proportion of food imports to total imports, which in 1939 amounted to only 26 per cent. had by 1944 increased to 40 per cent. Imports of raw materials and unmanufactured articles are swollen by the inclusion of crude oil and rough diamonds in the latter years, without which they would represent a much smaller proportion of the total. Manufactured articles showed the greatest reduction, having fallen from 64 per cent. in 1939 to 22 per cent. in 1944.

73. The extent to which imports are inflated by price increases is shown in the following table, where imports in the years 1941 to 1944 have been revalued, as far as possible, at the prices (or average value per unit) ruling in the year 1939 :-

INDICES OF VOLUME AND AVERAGE VALUE OF IMPORTS (1939=100).

lndex of volume I Index of average value
Class I 1941 I 1942 i 1943 I 1944 1941 I 194z I 1943 I 1944
I-Food. drink e v
and tobacco 73 ** 71 83 169 227 sse 409
II-Articles mainly
unmanufactured 69 105 aa 104 188 270 288 acs
III-Articles mainly 29 175
manufactured 87 " 20 saa ass "'"'
CV-Animals, hv-
ing n.e.s. 865 386 872 201> 159 16') aes "'
~ I
TotaI merchandise so I so I " I " I t7* I"" Im I asa
It will be seen that the changes in the proportion of imports in each class are the result of reductions in total volume which have imposed reductions of varying degree on each class of imports. The extent of the country's dependence on imported food is reflected by the fact that food, drink and tobacco imports proved very inelastic and yielded less to the overall reduction than other imports. Increases in the average values of food, drink and tobacco were greater than in any other class, being 309 per cent. higher than in 1939. The main cause of this increase was the higher cost of imported cereals, a large proportion of which was imported from Middle East countries whose internal price level stands higher than that of Palestine. Imports of raw materials remained high and showed an increase over the 1939 volume. This increase is largely due to increased imports of textile materials for local manufacture. The reduction in the volume of imports has been greatest in the case of manufactured articles, which in 1944 amounted to only 29 per cent. of the 1939 figure.

74. In the following table particulars are given of Palestine's import trade for the years 1940-1944 according to groups of commodities :-

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