WORLD TRADE

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 124, 28 May 1930, Page 11

WORLD TRADE

POSITION OF BRITAIN

AMERICA'S. SUPREMACY

NEED FOE MARKETING

(From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDON, 15th April.

Mr. G. M. Gillott, Secretary of the Department of Overseas Trade, at a luncheon given by the Association of British Chambers of Commerce, dealt with British trade, abroad and its declining; tendency.

If they looked -upon the countries of the world as importers of United Kingdom manufactures, he said, they saw that our share was declining w" "o that of some of our competitors was increasing. from the figures showing the percentage of trade derived from the leading exporting countries they would see that *n 1913 Great Britain. Germany, and the U.S.A. were all about on a level, whereas by 1928 the United States had established a marked superiority. In 1913 Brazil's percentage of imports from us was 24 against 16 from the United States. By 1928 the position had been reversed, and she took only 22 per cent, from us against 27 per ceiit. from the United States. In 1913 Australia's percentage of our goods was 52 against 14 from the United States. ' In 1928 she took 43 per cent, from us against 24 per cent, from the United States. Many other countries showed a like tendency. The values of exports of the United Kingdom to Argentina, after reaching £31,000,000 in 1928, had not kept up, the figure for 1929 being something just over £29,000,000.

The United States was now by far the greatest exporting country in the world, and it had been computed that the volume of her exports in 1928 was in broad figures half as much again as in 1922. This was an amazing" development, and the facts were even more significant when it was appreciated thaT there, had been steady increase* in the proportion of exports of finished manufactures. They could hot, of course, hope to challenge American trade in tho aggregate, in view of her immense resources for the supply of raw produce and materials. But the progress now being enjoyed by that country was not confined to such commodities. The growth in the export of motor-vehicles and motor-trucks was particularly striking; motor-trucks, forexample, showed an increase in 1928 over 1922 of over 1000' per cent. Of other commodities sharing in that extraordinary .development some were goods new to this generation, such as radio apparatus and calculating machines, but others represented lines in which the United Kingdom had been pre-eminent, sucli as cutlery, printing machinery, musical instruments, paints, and varnishes. On the other hand, among the few commodities which did not share in this progress were leather goods, cotton cloth, steel rails, and textile manufactures. The D'Abernon Mission said that the large Argentine demand was for" hew commodities of commerce, and that we did not supply them on a scale worthy of our position as an industrial and exporting nation. There appeared to bo ground for the suggestion that the expenditure on hew commodities bad diverted money which might otherwise have gone to more staple trades. A HOPEFUL SIGN. Beferring to Empire trade, he- said that during 1929 there were 12 countries in the world each taking over £20,000,000 of United Kingdom > exports. Of those 12, six were Empire countries, and together ,they imported over £.257,000,000 of our exports as against £185,000,000 taken by the six foreign countries. Notwithstanding this, there had been a small decline in the value of our trade with the overseas Empire during the last three years, whereas concurrently there had been a growth of our trade with foreign countries. In 1929 the decline in our trade with the Empire, as compared with 1928, was due to the fact that India took necarly £6,000,000 less. On .the other hand, and this was a hopeful sign, we exported £1,000,000 more 'to the Dominions and £1,500,000 more to the Colonies.

At present times were bad in this country, but wo must not lose tlio true perspective. Most' of the world was productively or industrially out of Balance. He believed wo should see in the not too distant future prosperous markets where at present we saw depressed ones. Wo must equip ourselves now so that our goods might sell in those markets against their rivals when the conditions improved. If Britain, was to regain world leadership in trade it would require greater effort than we had made since the war, based on more accurate knowledge and a better understanding of the position than we had had in the past. A great industrial revolution was taking placed and we must keep abreast of the changes, both in production and distribution —indeed we should set the pace. We bad commonly thought of two partners in industry—management, or capital, on the one hand, and production, or labour, on the other. But were there not three? Was not distribution, or marketing, equally important? Indeed, the three, operations must, be interwoven and interdependent if success was to bo achieved.