The principal articles imported into Venezuela are cotton, textiles, wheat flour, machinery, agricultural implements, kerosene, drugs and medicines. The principal exports are coffee, cacao, balatá, hides and skins, rubber, gold, copper, sugar, asphalt, heron plumes and cattle.
Estimating the bolivar at .193 cents gold, the accompanying figures show the extent, in United States currency, of Venezuela's foreign trade:
| 1917— | Imports | $22,188,223.08 | ||
| Exports | 23,164,701.60 | |||
| Total | $45,352,924.68 | |||
| 1918— | Imports | $14,908,275.39 | ||
| Exports | 19,813,216.67 | |||
| Total | $34,721,492.07 | |||
| A decrease in imports for 1918 over 1917 of | $7,279,947.69 | |||
| A decrease in exports for 1918 over 1917 of | 3,351,484.93 | |||
| A total decrease in foreign trade for 1918 over 1917 of | $10,631,432.62 | |||
| 1919— | Imports | $27,020,000.00 | ||
| Exports | 33,196,000.00 | |||
| Total | $60,216,000.00 | |||
| An increase in imports for 1919 over 1918 of | $12,111,724.61 | |||
| An increase in exports for 1919 over 1918 of | 13,382,783.33 | |||
| A total increase in foreign trade for 1919 over 1918 of | $25,494,507.94 | |||
(Above figures were compiled from official sources; advance estimates for 1919 from "Memoria de Hacienda, Ano civil de 1919.")
Part II
American Goods in Venezuela
American goods have always been welcome in Venezuela, even when Americans were personae non gratae in the country. The greatest obstacle in the way of increased sales of American goods in Venezuela is American selling methods.
In selling the Venezuelan market, German and British merchants have always evidenced a readiness to adapt their goods to meet the requirements of Venezuelans, while it has been the policy of Americans in general, to attempt to force their customers to alter their requirements to fit American goods. The World War, by shutting off Europe from South America, helped certain American dealers to force on Venezuela goods which the merchants of that country did not want. A homely example of American "strong arm" selling methods occurred during the war in the matter of an order for a quantity of stickers, or labels, to be pasted on small packages. The Venezuelan house ordered the labels without the usual gummed back, as the climate of the country propagates myriads of mucilage-hungry insects and was clearly not favorable to the usual form of gummed-back stickers. Therefore, the order was given for a certain number of printed labels with plain backs, the intention being to apply mucilage to the labels as needed. The American exporter, however, promptly sent the usual gummed-back labels with the intimation that he was selling labels with gummed-backs and not labels with another kind of back and that he did not think it advisable to change his wares in order to fill a small order. The Venezuelan house needed the labels and as Europe was isolated, it was forced to accept, under protest, an article which was clearly doomed to prove unsatisfactory. This is but one example of what I have been told is one of the greatest defects in American selling policy. Now that the war is over and Europe is hastening to pick up the slack ends of her world trade, America is liable to lose a large part of her war-won trade if she does not immediately alter her previous attitude. "With the exception of flour, lard, lumber, cement, certain lines of dry goods, typewriters, cash registers, sewing machines and a few other articles in which Europe does not compete, the main current of importation into Venezuela has been from European countries, which have for many years made a careful study of the merchandise and packing requirements of the Republic. Backed by ample banking facilities, European firms have given liberal and long credits to facilitate the sale of their products."[26]
[26] "Market for Construction Materials in Venezuela," Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce.
The necessity of careful packing has been systematically dinned into the ears of American exporters and as consistently ignored. As import duties into Venezuela are in many cases charged on commodity and container alike and as the chief means of transportation in the interior is by burros, over mountain trails, the packing should be as light and at the same time as durable as possible. In this connection, there is a story current in Caracas with reference to a shipment of small balloons for testing purposes, which may or may not be true, but which vividly illustrates the point. The American house, upon receiving an order for a number of balloons to be delivered to Venezuela, is charged with having inflated each and every balloon, enclosed each balloon in a separate case and shipped the entire order in this form!