Exports Nearly £20m

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31162, 12 September 1966, Page 14

Exports Nearly £20m

Exports by manufacturers amounted to £19.8 million in 1965-66, £2.9 million more than tn the previous year, announced the president of the New Zealand Manufacturers* Federation Mr J. R. Maddren. “We are confident that £2O million will be well exceeded in the next trading year, but to come so close in the year just ended is an achievement in which manufacturers are entitled to take considerable pride. ' “The increase of more than 17 per cent over the previous year maintained a rate of growth which was second to none in the export field and brought the share of the nation’s export income

earned by manufacturers up to 5.3 per eent. “This is a valuable contributton to our overseas earnings. aggregating £BO nullion jn the past six years and still rising rapidly,” Mr Maddren said. “While exports of pulp and paper are stall by far the bigbest contributors to the total, the most rapid growth in the past three years has been experienced in exports of other manufactures. Apart from products of the oil refinery, which contributed £2.4 million to the total last year, chemicals and chemical products earned in excess of £1 million after more than trebling in three years. “Products of the metal industries. including machinery ! and electrical machinery,

have also made a breakthrough. topping the £2 million mark for the first time. They broke through the £1 million barrier as recently as two years ago, but have continued their rapid progress in the face of keen competition. “We can expect a big surge forward in exports of manufactured goods when new production units in the pulp and paper industries, mentioned in expansion plans announced recently, come into operation in two to three years’ time, but in the meantime the rapid expansion in exports by manufacturers who have proved they can compete successfully on world markets is one of the healthiest features of the economy,” said Mr Maddren.