BRITISH TRADE RETURNS.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 184, 6 August 1925, Page 4

BRITISH TRADE RETURNS.

A MONTH'S BUSINESS

ADVERSE BALANCE REDUCED

The features of the foreign trade returns of the United Kingdom for May (says the "Times") are a decrease in the total value of imports and an increase in the total value of exports compared with April. That month had two working days less than May.

Whilst the total value of imports (£104,278,466) was less b rover £6,600,----000 than in the previous month and lees by nearly £15,000,000 than in May, 1924, that of exports (£78,703,406) was about £5,500,000 more than in April, 1925, but approximately £4,500,000 less than in May, 1924. Thus the apparent adverse balance of trade for the month has undergone some diminution.

The decline in imports compared with May, 1924, was due to decreased purchases abroad, not only of foodstuffs, but also of practically every important group of raw materials for industry—e.g., cotton (£6.588,035 against £8,193,127), wool (£8,872,750 against £11,689,960), iron ore and scrap (£512,831 against £1,021,280), oil seeds, etc., hides and skins, as well as a number of manufactured articles, amongst which iron and steel (£1,883,177 against £2,777,207), and chemicals and dyes (£1,061,459 against £1,471,686) are noteworthy.

There is, unfortunately, not a little likelihood that the decline in the imports of the foregoing industrial materials will lead, in most instances, to a decline in the output and the exports of the branches of manufacture concerned.

In the trade in crude rubber, whereas imports last month were 6200 centals less than in May, 1924, in value they were £331,500 more —a striking illustration of the advance in price. In spite of the demand for houses, timber was imported to the value of only £3,262,390, as against £3,074,658 in May, 1924, whereas the figures for the five months of the year were £13,112,023 (1925) and £12,421,769 (1924).

I& the month under review there was a, continuance of the movement to rush in motor vehicles, silk, and Bilk manufactures, and at the same time considerable increases in the imports of clocks and watches.

Some interesting comparisons may also be made between the country's export trade in May, 1925 and 1924. In exports of British produce and manufactures there was a decline of nearly "£6,000,000, but in re-exports of foreign and colonial merchandise a marked advance of £1,400,000. Coal accounted for £1,879,572 of the decline, iron and steel for £1,492,000, woollens and worsteds for £1,424,00Q, cottons for £923,950, and apparel for £560,570. At the same time there were satisfactory increases in machinery (£4,390,166 against £3,975,----594), electrical goods and apparatus (£1,161,633 against £873,247), vehicles (£2,393,692 against £2,236,073), paper and cardboard and rubber manufactures, the last-named due possibly to increased price rather than quantity.