CHANGES IN CURRENCY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 262, 6 November 1939, Page 4

CHANGES IN CURRENCY.

AFFECT FLOW OF TRADE. The changes in currency values which have taken place since the beginning of the war are likely to have a considerable influence on Australian trade, particularly with Pacific countries. "Since the middle of August" (writes the "Sydney Morning Herald") "our currency has depreciated about 16 per cent in relation to the dollar, and other neutral currencies which have retained their pre-war values. The American dollar, the Java guilder, the Manila peso, the belga, and the lira, will therefore all buy more in Australia than formerly, which, provided our costs do not rise proportionately, should be of assistance to our export trade to these places. In wartime continuity of supply often becomes a more important consideration to buyers than fine comparisons of prices, and here two opposing factors come into play. "In the first place, our object will be to produce the maximum possible of goods which may be useful to ourselves and to Great Britain for war purposes, which may make it necessary to forgo certain export opportunities; in the second place, the dangers of dislocations to shipping in European waters make Australia the more reliable source of supply for neighbouring countries. "The shipping facilities which are available between here and the Netherlands East Indies have been an important factor in encouraging inquiries for a variety of our products, and in the markets of the East every slight reduction in price means many thousands of new customers. The development of trade of this kind, so long as it does not in any way interfere with the war programme, adds something to the sinews o' war which,the Empire needs fo purchasing supplies from America anu elsewhere."