The fight conducted for many years by Jewish leaders of the Palestine orange industry to exempt Palestine oranges from customs duty in Canada was finally won yesterday when the Minister of Finance announced in Parliament that no duty will be imposed on citrus products from the Holy Land.
This announcement opens a new market for Palestine products and acknowledges in principle that British Dominions are to consider Palestine import as a part of the general import from Great Britain upon which no custom duty is levied.
The fight to have Canada exempt Palestine oranges from the tariff has been carried on by the Jewish Farmers Association of Palestine for several years. Special delegations were sent to London to win the assistance of the Colonial Office in this matter. A delegation also visited Canada. No definite results were, however, reached until now, when the British government took an active interest in the representations made by the chambers of commerce of Palestine and by the Palestine associations interested in exporting Palestine products abroad.
With the exemption of Palestine oranges from duty in Canada, Palestine citrus exporters will be in a position to compete easily with American citrus products since the latter are considered inferior in quality and are subject to custom duty.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
