Industrial activity in Palestine has shown an upward trend since July, when the lowest level since the beginning of the war was reached.
The October bulletin of the Jewish Agency Research Institute gives index figures for the number of man-days of work per month in 315 enterprises, based on the average for the period from October, 1938, to September, 1939. Production fell following the outbreak of the war, and the November, 1939, figure was down to 94.6, rising gradually to 111.4 in May, 1940, In July, following Italy’s entry into the war, production dropped to 97.6; in August it had risen again to 100.9, in September to 103.9 and in October to 109.1. Similar trend is shown by the index figure for the wage bill.
It is pointed out in the bulletin that actually the expansion of industry has been more rapid than is indicated by these figures, for monopoly enterprises such as the refinery and Palestine Potash, whose output has greatly increased, are not included in the 315 enterprises observed, while in addition there is no indication of the number of new enterprises, factories and workshops established. The enterprises upon which these figures are based represent 20 per cent of the industrial works included in the 1937 census. They employ 37 per cent of the total number Jews working in industry and represent 44 per cent of the total value of production.
Meanwhile, the regulation of Palestine’s oil industry in a manner similar to the citrus industry was suggested by A. Grazovsky, of the Government Department of Agriculture, before the Committee on Agricultural Economics and Marketing, which met here.
Olive growers should be protected by special rules governing the picking, storage, percentage of acidity and purity, Grazovsky declared, pointing out that over 500,000 dunams of land were under olive tree cultivation as compared with the 300,000 dunams devoted to citrus.
In spite of the difficulties which would undoubtedly occur at the beginning, such measures were particularly important now that less oil was consumed by the Nablus soap industry owing to the decrease in export.
The pressing problem now, explained Grazovsky, was to raise the standard of the surplus olive oil on hand so that it can compete in foreign markets. Recent experiments by the Department of Agriculture on the oil content of olives from various countries, namely Morocco, Italy and Spain, have proved that the Palestine fruit contains the highest proportion, 47.5 per cent of oil.
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