Section II.-Mineral and Fossil Raw Materials; Mineral Oils.

The value of the foreign trade of this section amounted (in 1,000,000 marks) to:

In the foreign trade of this group, the totals of which show certain increases, two items account pre-eminently for the changes which have taken place, viz., the value of the import of ores and the value of the export of mineral fuel, both of which have risen considerably. The import of ores, slag and ashes amounted to:-

The rapid increase is of particular interest, because it shows a

growing dependence of Germany upon foreign supplies.

The total of iron ore imported and exported amounted to:

As far as foreign iron ores are concerned, the chief supplies came from the following countries:---

The increased supply from France is remarkable. It is said that of the French ore deposits at Briey, covering an area of 43,000 hectares, one-fifth is owned by German concerns or by concerns in which German capital is interested. The import amounted to:

It had for some time past been known that certain ores near Olpe in Westphalia were platinum bearing in very small quantities. It is now claimed that a chemical process has been evolved to render the mining of these small quantities lucrative, and several companies have taken up the matter.

The value of the import of mineral fuel remained practically stationary; against 1911 the value of the import has risen by 10,000,000 marks. The export shows great changes. The value of the export amounted to:

That is in round figures an annual increase of 100,000,000 marks. As was pointed out in the introduction to these statistics (page 41), the export of coal has largely contributed towards the

tendency of the German foreign trade of showing balance in favour of exports. The export balance in the foreign trade of coal, coke and briquettes has increased very rapidly, from 1900-13 it has more than trebled. The figures are as follows:

The chief imports of coal come from the United Kingdom (9,209,000 tons), and approximately one-tenth of that quantity is imported from the Netherlands and Austria-Hungary together. The export is directed chiefly to Austria-Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands. (probably in transit), Belgium, France, &c. The export to Sweden was nearly doubled in 1913. The export was also greatly pushed to India and to the British possessions in the Mediterranean.

The import of coke remained practically stationary, with a value of 12,000,000 marks; the value of the export rose from 126,000,000 marks in 1912 to 133,000,000 marks in 1913. The chief exports went to France, which took more than one-third of the total export, viz., 2,355,000 tons out of a total of 6,411,000 tons. The next most important customers are Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Russia and Switzerland.

Practically the total import of lignite comes from Austria-Hungary. Its value receded from 69,000,000 marks in 1912 to 66,000,000 marks in 1913.

The total German production amounted to :-

The increase in the production of coal and coke amounted to the following:

The chief figures (quantities) of the British-German trade under this Section II of the German customs returns are as follows: