COMMERCIAL NOTES

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 108, 3 November 1923, Page 8

COMMERCIAL NOTES

PARLOUS STATE OF BRITISH TRADES

COMPETITION TOO KEEN

DUMPED GOODS FROM THE CONTINENT.

IMPERIAL TRADE.

(PROH OCR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

LONDON, 21st September. The Council of the Manchester Association of Importers and Exporters have sent a letter to Sir P. LloydGreame, President of the Board of Trade, placing before -him their views with regard to trading facilities within the Empire to be discussed at the Imperial Economic Conference next month.

In the course of the letter the association says that no single part ,of the Empire can acquire any prolonged increased power to produce and accumulate surpluses for export unless it is willing to accept imports'of goods of a complemental character in exchange. At bottom this country can subsist only by selling its manufactures and coal in exchange for the raw materials and foodstuffs of other countries. Should this country find itself able to impose a protective duty on produce coming from foreign countries and grant a preference to the Dominions by giving their produce a chance of being more extensively used than that of foreigners, still the extent of the sale of the produce of the Dominions would be limited to the capacity of our purchasing power.' Should the Dominions continue their policy of enforcing prohibitive duties for the puipose of protecting their own home industries that would weaken our purchasing power and thereby lessen the volume of imports, of the produce of the Dominions into this country and frustrate any benefit the preference was designed to promote. On the other hand, our ex-ports of coal and manufactures to those countries which are how large purchasers would be curtailed if we were not able to take a free supply of their raw materials and food m return. The fallacy that the Dominions can subsist by disposing of their produce without taking any articles in return' in payment must be cleared entirely from the mind when examining the problems of. Imperial trade. The sentiment is in favour of inter-Imperial, and that will count for much, but the law of supply and demand and economic conditions will assert themselves and surmount all racial ties. • LOST LACE TRADE. A Government committee which Is inquiring into the application of the Nottingham lace and embroidery trades for protection is now busy making a first-hand acquaintance -with the subject on the spot. The decline in ■ this lace industry during the last few years has been very striking. In 1920 the output was valued at 8J millions, in 1921 it fell to 2| millions, in 1922 it was again under three millions, and a total of one million for five months of this year foreshadows a still lower figure for the whole of 1923. In this trade the main cause of the difficulty is the advantage which economic arid currency conditions' give to French competitors. Notwithstanding the great difference between the internal and external value of the ! franc, the French workman, because he I lives so largely on the produce of his ■! own country, can still subsist at a comparatively cheap rate. The English workman, on the other hand, is greatly dependent on imported commodities, and must be paid high wages to meet their, high cost. The importance of this dif- ! ference can only be fully appreciated when it is pointed out in what an overwhelming degree the value of fancy lace goods is the result of labour. • A pound of cotton bought for', say, 2s, may, after going through various processes,' emerge as a finished! product worth from £2 to £5. The position is aggravated by the fact that, while the French manufacturer sends his goods intoM-the British market duty free, the French Government has much increased the duty which already existed on Nottingham goods entering France before the war. Now, ,it is impossible for Nottingham goods to be sold on the French market. PERIL OF DUMPED GOODS. _ Manufacturers in other leading British trades are also alarmed at the increased competition of countries with depreciated currencies in markets at home and abroad. "There is not an" industry in the country whose markets are not being flooded by imports of foreign goods offered at prices with which our manufacturers cannot compete," said Mr. G. Cheeseman, secretary of the .National Union of Manufacturers, in an interview.

There is no proper Merchandise Marks Act. Shoppers cannot tell where the goods come from; and they are marketed at prices just below those of home producers. The middleman is having.a good time, and the'manufacturer is in despair. - Besides German competition, we now have French competition owing to the depreciated exchange, and Austrian competition ' is growing keener. Not only are home markets affected, but in' all the markets of the world British goods are being ousted by the cut prices competitors can offer. rt is- leaving-this country with a terrible burden of unemployment, and nothing is being done to relieve the peril."

A Federation of British Industries representative said that besides the Bradford woollen, the Macclesfield silk,- and the Nottingham lace industries, cutlery and motor-car tire manufacturers were also meeting strong opposition. One hopeful fact, he said, was that engineering firms were holding their own in the South African market against American competition, and securing orders at: prices substantially below- those of their rivals. Importation of- German hardware goods, such as shovels and picks, and of aluminium goods is causing concern among Leeds manufacturers. At Glasgow there is considerable dumping of German toys and wireless head 'phones. Board of Trade returns show that during the first eight months of 1922, Germany sent us 290,715 square yards of woollen tissues, and this year 813,022, and the imports, of silk tissues from Germany rose from 446,145 to 1,251,672 square yards. GERMAN DYES. "There has been no incident in modern commercial history more humiliating to us than that we should' have been, sending to Germany for years shiploads of raw coaltar products from the gasworks and coke ovens of this country &t absurdly low. prices, to be sent back.to us in a few weeks' time in the form of fine dyes and pharmaceutical products at thousands per cent, increase in value. What could be more dangerous to us as a nation than a return to such a condition? That is exactly what will happen if the bare form ok of Free Trade is allowed to guide our policy." Tiiis,, . according to the * "Morning Post," is the . presentation of the-case made by Mr. J. Morton, chairman oi"

Scottish Dyes (Limited), an erstwhile apostle of Free Trade. -

Synthetic dyes are indispensable in the textile and subsidiary trades. The normal annual value of goods in which they are an essential and important part is approximately' £2OO,QCO,CCO. Before the war, British industries used, annually, dyes to the value of nearly £2 250----OCO, of which about £1,750,000 was paid to Germany, about £150,000 to Switzerland, and £200,000 to British manufacturers. Germany is now making desperate efforts to 'recapture this trade, and when the Ruhr question is settled the fight will be severe'and persistent In 1913 we imported 567,884'cwt of dyes, for which we paid £1.892,055 or an average of lid per Ib. The "imports in 1920 amounted to -196,668-. cwt for which we-paid £7,535,194, or an average of 6s lOd per lb, being seven and a half times the pre-war price. It was evident ■ therefore, that the German policy was to extract as much as possible for colours not produced in this country, and the moment the colour was made and quoted here to issue a new price so much below the British, prices as to make the user here thoroughly dissatisfied. 'These were obviously the German tactics to unsettle our dye industry. INNER TUBES FOR 2d. It is now reckoned" (writes ' Sir W. Beach Thomas in 'the "Daily Express") that the relative cost of labour in Europe is very nearly. 1 in Germany, 2 in Czechoslovakia, and 4 in France, compared with 6 in Britain. This meansihat even France has a one-third advantage over Britain in this respect alone. Inner tubes for cycle tires from Germany are actually being sold at twopence each. Two outer and two inner tires for a heavy motor-cycle are sold with,it is alleged, a good profit, at 18s for the outfit. German scissors ■ have been sold per dozen at much the price of English scissors apiece. German saws and aluminium goods ■ and Belgian gun barrels are still being marked • .as if British and are beina sold at little more than the cost of tfie- raw material. Labour should form' from 40 per cent, to 70 per cent, of the total cost of manufactured articles. Such goods as pots and pans, bedsteads, clocks, and needles j suffer, from similarly unfair competition, due to the upset of normal conditions, in Europe and low exchanges. Many manufacturers—especially, in' Birminghamhave already reduced prices. to, the minimum by cutting out allprofits. to! themselves, but are still unable to face competition in the cheaper lines. ' If is. generally believed that an era of yet cheaper :dumping is at hand^—and 'we have no protective'armour ready' The only quick remedy is to include more industries under the . existing - safeguarding of Industries Act, which allows- the imposition of a tax of a third "of" their, value oh certain imports. And it ■ must be:starkly'administered. ■'■'•' OPTIMISTIC.; OUTLOOK.'- ,'". The seventeenth lecture conference for works directors, managers, foremen, and forewomen opened at BalHol College' Oxford, this.week; . Nearly. BCO persons, of whom- fifteen ;are. women, &11, connected with the-administrative side of industry,' are attending the conference. In: the opening.lecture, on "The Business Out-' look," Professor J. H. Jones, professor of economics at Leeds University, surveyed the economic position and the causes terminating in the present depression. "There was," he contended/ "no necessary' connection between overpopulation and unemployment." Contrasting the situation in the United States with;that in this country, he referred to y. recent prophecy by ,a wellknown Sheffield manufacturer that there would be another .depression in America 'in"*_ .twc^'or' 1 three years-. '" America;"- he pointed out," before the 'war 'developed largely on an immigrant population, and the stopping of immigration had tended ;to hide the extent to which industrial I development had been held up. "The unemployed of America," he said,-"are still in Europe. I am confident," said Professor Jones, in conclusion, "that we will again- enjoy an adequate share of the world's trade. Profits may be cut fine, some exporting industries may have to_ travel a very rough road, but others will make up for any loss. Our general position as. an exporting nation will be: no less; important than it has been in the past." ...... ■ j