(Jewish Telegraphic Agency Mail Service)
The total gross revenue derived from Customs Exeise and Port Dues during 1926 amounted to £E1,055,524 compared with £E1,019,955 during 1925 states the annual report of the Department of Customs. Excise and Trade which has just been issued here.
The increase, the report says, is chiefly due to excise, duty on tobacco, import duties, fines and the sale of salt. The average monthly revenue from the Excise Tobacco collected in the form of banderolles, exceeds £E100,000.
Local industries, the report states, were protected and encouraged by the exemption from customs duties of raw materials or essential adjuncts of manufacture, such as cotton yarns, silk and artificial silk, yarns and woolen and worsted yarns for the textile industry; certain hides and skins and barks for the tanneries printing and bookbinding machinery and printers’ types; corks, capsules, bottles and jars for manufacturers of mineral waters and the wine trade; packing paper for oranges; empty sacks and hoops for barrels for the cement factory; copra, oil-bearing seeds and olive oil for the soap and oil industry; mother of pealrs shells for the Bethlchem workers; tools and implements used in handicrafts; pipes for drainage; sulphur, raw and prepared drugs.
Goods to the value of approximately £43,000 were exempted from customs duties under Treaty rights and immunity clauses.
The export duty on all goods exported from Palestine save antiquities has been abolished. The total value of imports of merchandise for home consumption during the year was £E6,429,245, compared with £E7,338,491 during 1925; exports of Palestine produce amounted to £E1,275,625 compared with £E1,297,559 for 1925. The exports include 2,015 tons of cement to Syria; 4,047 tons of laundry soap and 26 tons of toilet soap; and 1,887,581 cases of oranges valued at £566,199.
Three thousand three hundred and five offenses against Customs and Excise Laws were detected and £E9,744 was collected in fines. Five thousand five hundred and forty-nine tons of salt were sold compared with 4,794 tons during 1925.
The trade depression that set in towards the end of 1925 continued, and was most noticeable at Jaffa and Tel Aviv, where several trade failures occurred and many small industries closed down for lack of capital and credit. Economic conditions were difficult and liquid capital was scarce. Forward buyings were consequently discontinued and orders placed abroad are now restrieted to immediate requirements.
Local Jewish industries have nevertheless been maintained. Over 6,000 workers are engaged in such occupations, compared with 5,000 in 1925: of industries that closed down in 1925, the largest, a chocolate and a silk factory. have reopened, and new undertakings were established, including tobacco factories, a stocking factory, and a brewery at Acre.
Three hundred and eighty tons of cigarettes were manufactured during the year, compared with 300 tons during 1925, and 27 tons of cut tobacco and 82 tons of tombac. More than 4 tons of cigarettes were manufactured for export and 190 tons of leaf tobacco were exported.
There was a satisfactory summer tourist traffic of conducted parties.
The cost of living index number, calculated on the basis of retail price movements, fell by 17.9 per cent compared with 1922, and 1.7 per cent compared with 1925 (basis 1922). The index number of wholesale prices fell by 5 per cent as compared with 1925.
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