J. D. B. News Letter

11.15, barely £P. 5.45 to £P. 7.00, durah £P. 7.00 to £P. 7.35, Sesame £P. 21.45 to £P. 21.84.

The export of Citrus fruit has started. For the present mainly grapefruit is being exported. The first consignment of about 700 cases from the Emek settlements and 400 cases from the Judean colonies has been despatched at the beginning of October to the various countries in Western Europe. The general crop of Palestine oranges this year is estimated as four million cases of which over half is being produced by Jewish settlements. Considerable anxiety is being felt at the special tariffs which have been introduced in Great Britain on citrus fruits following the decisions adopted at the Ottawa Conference. Nevertheless, there is a general impression that the prospects for the forthcoming citrus fruit season are quite good.

The sale of Palestine oranges in Great Britain is extended at the expense of the Spanish orange. The sale of oranges in Germany will not be affected by the heavy restrictions put on the import of agricultural produce, because these restrictions do not apply to citrus fruits. About 80,000 cases of oranges are expected to be sold in Canada. The Polish Government has permitted the importation during the first half of the season of 17,000 cases of oranges from Palestine. That is considerably more than the quota allowed for the whole of the previous season. There is some reason to believe that Russia too will soon start buying Palestinian oranges.

Industry continues to develop with the increase of the number of immigrants and the inflow of capital for investment in various directions.

Inquiries of all sorts have been coming in to various institutions which are in a position to give information on the subject of investment possibilities. Of these institutions special mention should be made of the Economic Department of the Jewish Agency, the American Palestine Economic Committee, the Mischar w’Taasiah Company and the Jewish Chambers of Commerce at Tel Aviv and Haifa.

In the course of the month 17 partnerships were registered with the Government, including 15 Jewish (of which 4 were factories) and 2 Arab. In addition 6 cooperatives, including 2 plantation societies, were registered and also 4 foreign companies and 5 local ones (the financial capital of the latter amounts to £P. 21,600).

The work at the Haifa Harbor is drawing to a close and at the end of September two quarries at Athlit were closed down (in one of them a Jewish Labor group was working).