# 



— 17 — 



part as a producer of essential oils and odoriferous products. According 

 to particulars furnished by the German Consul General in Rio de Janeiro the 

 total foreign trade of Brazil represented the following values: — imports 

 in 1911, £ 52798016; in 1910, £ 47871974; exports in 1911, £ 66838892; 

 1910 £ 63091547. 



In the Argentine our turnover has continued to be satisfactory. In 

 this important consuming market buyers are constantly showing increased 

 appreciation of the worth of unimpeachable quality, and this fact, we are 

 glad to note, finds expression in the healthy growth of our exports to this 

 market, which possesses a considerable purchasing power. Unfortunately 

 we learn from a report of the German Consulate-General in Buenos Ayres 

 that during the first half of the present year the country has suffered 

 economically through the outbreak of a strike among the dock-labourers 

 in that city at a time when the corn was being threshed, which resulted 

 in the shipment of corn being delayed from the- beginning of January 

 to the middle of February. Before this dispute was concluded, the engine- 

 drivers and stokers came out on strike, and for about six weeks the 

 carriage of the harvest by rail was more or ess paralysed. Finally came 

 the colliers' strike in Britain, which caused a great rise in the price of 

 coal and a scarcity of that commodity in the Argentine and also had the 

 effect of creating a want of sufficient tonnage. 



The immediate consequences of these events for the Argentine corn 

 harvest were a delay in the threshing operations of from 20 to 25 days, 

 an accumulation of cereals in the various ports, owing to the impossibility 

 of shipping them, a glut of harvest-produce in the farms, in the railway- 

 sheds and in private warehouses throughout the country, brought about 

 by the stoppage of railway-traffic, a considerable increase in ocean-freights 

 from want of shipping accommodation, financial embarrassment of the 

 farmers towards the traders and of the traders towards the banks and 

 restriction of bankers' credits. 



It was not until the beginning of April that the situation began to improve. 



Considering these untoward conditions the first half-year of 1912 has 

 come to a not unsatisfactory close. 



The exports of cereals have been as follows: — 



estimate for shipments in the first 6 months of 



1912 1912 1911 1910 



t t t t 



Wheat 3 000 000 1 840 000 1 730 000 1 230 000 



Maize 5 000 000 1 100 000 130 000 400 000 



Linseed 500 000 330 000 270 000 520 000 



Oats . . . 850 000 730 000 440 000 260 000 



Total 4 000 000 2 570 000 2 410 000 



• 



It is a matter for congratulation that the tension between the Argentine 

 and Italy which resulted from the application by the Argentine Government 



2 



