The Bay of Plenty Times TUESDAY, JANUARY 14th, 1941 OUR EXTERNAL TRADE

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXIX, Issue 13238, 14 January 1941, Page 4

The Bay of Plenty Times TUESDAY, JANUARY 14th, 1941 OUR EXTERNAL TRADE

The calendar year ia,4o, will prove to be a record one for the export trade for the country. The official figures for the full year are not yet available, but the Monthly Abstract furnished the figures for eleven months, and these compared with the trade figures for the corresponding eleven months of 1939, show as under: —

11 months £ 11 months £ 1940 56.561,102 1939 54,612,997 These figures show a gain of nearly £2,000,000 over 1939 which is very satisfactory. The increase, however, is largely due to better prices, for the output does not show any marked improvement. For example, butter shows an increase of 40,000 cwt. in quantity, while the increase in value is over £1,000,000. The increase in the exports of cheese in the eleven months was just a little less than 200.000 cwt., and the value was about £1,600,000 more than in the corresponding period of 1939. In the eleven months butter and cheese realised over £22,000,000, which must be a record. The December exports of these two-products should add another million and a half to the total, and this should be a record for dairy farmers so far as gross returns are concerned, but, whether these net profits will be relatively as great is quite another matter, for their costs are so much higher. The increase in the value of the frozen beef exported in the eleven months was £1,221,000. Lamb gave an increased monetary return of £1,700,000, and mutton an increase of a little over £900,000. Thus the meat producers, like the dairy farmers, have had increased gross returns, but the net returns are not likely to satisfy them. Perhaps, it is the wool growers who have done best with the British commandeer. The quantity of wool exported increased by about 9000 bales, while the monetary return was over £4,000,000" more than in the eleven months of 1939. With wool, mutton and lamb, the gross return to the sheep farmers was about £30,000,000 in the eleven months. Cow products, and sheep products between them, account for over £53,000,000 out of a total export income of £56,561,102, and this serves to show how very much we depend upon the farming community for our economic improvement. In the calendar year 1939, our exports were valued at £58,098.717, or less than £2,000,000 more-for the eleven months of 1940, and as December was a month of heavy shipments, especially of' wool, the increase for the year should be substantial. The imports have been steadily falling since 1938, owing to restrictions, and importing has become more difficult since the war began. The shelves of wholesalers are gradually being-emptied ,and some lines of merchandise are already unprocurable. The imports for the eleven months to November, 1940, compare with those for the corresponding period of 1939 as under: — ■ 11 months £ 11 months £ 1939 46,335,916 1940 45,596,128 The decline is not very striking, but when compared with previous years it is very substantial. Luxury goods have suffered, for example, the number of motor vehicles imported in the eleven months of 1940, was only 6151, while in the corresponding eleven months of 1939, the number imported was 25,047. The motor trade must be feeling this.