- 66 - 
;3 has been due to the small crops in those years or to the export 
( yet remains to be seen. Some Hamburg operators have established 
ints for packing Yugoslav prunes on the Austrian border for distribu- 
tion in southern and centra? Germany thus eliminating the necessity of 
shipping the prunes in bags to Hamburg. Yugoslav exporters are of the 
>pinion that the tax is too small to exert much influence. 
This problem has been further aggravated by the discriminating 
tariff duties in some foreign markets in favor of prunes in bags. Such 
discriminatory rates have been instrumental in developing the packing 
industry in those countries to the detriment of the Yugoslav" packing 
'interests, particularly in "France, Germany,. Austria, Czechoslovakia, Italy 
and Poland. Attempts on the part of the Yugoslav Government to have these 
rstes reduced have recently been successful in the case of 'Germany, Austria 
ana Italy. In 192? about 60 per cent of Yugoslavia's prune exports went 
■ and 40 per cent in boxes; the 1928 exports in bags amounted 
to o5 per cent and in taxes 45 per cent. 'Vith a declining trend in exports 
the industry is bending every effort to develop the nearby markets demanding 
ie boxed pranes. 
^LaH5£OIlation facilit 
les 
lugoslavi a has available not only rail but excellent water trans" 
ion. "Freouent and rapid train service through Budapest and Prague 
auick delivery of prunes into the markets of northwest Europe. 3oth 
the rail and water systems are owned and operated oy the Government, 
re is no competition. Construction work on new railroad projects ie s 
under progress in many parts of Yugoslavia. The main object of the 
construction projects is to secure adeauate transportation facilities 
- i the grain belt to the Adriatic. The contemplated construction 
standard guage rail/' ay lines into the prune growing areas will greatly 
facilitate the marketing of. fruit since it will eliminate the necessity 
of transferring the fruit at the border from the narrow guage' to the 
standard guage lines. '.Vith the completion of more feeder lines the 
country will have increased, access to the large consuming markets by 
-s of the Paris-Vienna, the Budapest ^Prague -Berlin and the Constantinople 
3 trunk lines which cut across the country from north to south and 
from east to west . 
In recent years, as much as ninety per cent of the crop has gone by 
rater following the Danube direct to Vienna and Budapest and packing centers 
on the Austrian border. Goods destined for Hamburg folic* the Danube to 
Czechoslovakia and are there transshipped "oy rail to the Elbe river. Buyers 
generally prefer rail shipment as delivery time is much shorter and delays 
are avoided. Moreover, prunes are not piled as high in railway cars as in 
the barges, resulting in better deliveries. Eight fro ten days are required 
to deliver prunes to Hamburg by rail compared to three to six -eeks by 
e relatively short time reouired to reach important export markets 
is a strategic advantage to the prune industry in Yugoslavia particularly 
-•hen new crop supplies are needed in the fall for early delivery. Exporters 
in Yugoslavia are well aware of this advantage and comparatively large 
quantities are sold on the early export market. 
